


The Lost Goddess

by Come_C_Come_Ca



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover, Dreams, I'm Sorry, Magic, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, OOC, Original Characters - Freeform, Please Forgive me, She a hoe, Umbridge is back, aint nobody got time for that - Freeform, cannon plot?, everyone's in gryffindor, i think, it's for the sake of the plot, like what even, psychic connection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2018-09-28 16:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10137677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Come_C_Come_Ca/pseuds/Come_C_Come_Ca
Summary: Percy and his friends go to Hogwarts, to find someone that was lost a long time ago. Harry, Ron and Hermione returns to Hogwarts, but somehow everything is different. And what are the new exchange students hiding?The ships will mainly be Percabeth, Franzel, Jasper, Hinny, Romione, Caleo, and Solagelo.Some people may be alive even though they died in the books.This will mainly be from Percy's, Annabeth's, Harry's and Hermione's POV.





	1. Chapter 1 - Where a otherwise perfectly good day is rudely ruined

**Author's Note:**

> So i know it ain't never fun reading author's notes, so I'll be making as few of them as i can. I hope that I can get through the hole story without any author's notes, but if I can't y'all'll have to bare with me.  
> I'll be adding some characters that were not featured in the books, they are 100 % original, and any similarities they may strike are coincidental. They will be danish and talk danish some of the time, since I am danish, but I will provide translations. There might be some surprises from other fandoms. Might.  
> If anybody at all, has ideas feel free to write to me, or comment. You can also feel free to correct me grammer wise if I'mincorrect. Keep in mind that english is only my third laungue. Thank you.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own neither PJO, HOO or Harry Potter. That's all credit to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Percy and his friends were hanging out by the lake. It was one of those ahh-the-sun-is-so-hot-I-can-literally-feel-my-skin-tan kinds of days. Percy was lying on the beach, with Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, and Leo. He looked over the water, enjoying the peace. You see, life as a demigod was all about finding temporary moments, where life is all good, and there are no worries. Even though there aren't many.

Annabeth was curled up in the shadows, with a book sprawled out half open in front of her. It looked like she might have fallen asleep. Percy grinned. The heat must have been really intense for her to pass out like that. She had been talking about finishing the book she was reading for a least two hours before they came to the beach.

Hazel and Frank might have been sleeping too, but they might also just have been cuddling, relaxing, and enjoying each other's company. You could never tell with those two. They were so quiet. Percy often pondered how they always seemed to be so content with each others company. They could be completely still, relaxed, but they would at the same time give off an aura of calmness and peace. Love, even. Either way, they deserved it. They just got back from saving the world, for gods' sake.

Piper and Jason were kissing. In fact, it seemed like all they'd been doing for the past hour was kissing. At first, Percy had been fascinated by their seemingly uncanny ability to survive without air for that long, but now he was beginning to get kind of grossed out by it. Now, you might be thinking, "Percy, if Frank and Hazel deserved to relax and enjoy each other's company, didn't Jason and Piper too?" Percy was right there with you - sure, they deserved a break, after battling Gaea, losing Leo, and getting him back - but an hour was just too long. It was beginning to seem unnatural.

Leo and Calypso did not seem bothered by the sun at all. Calypso was leaning back, suntanning, while reading a glittering magazine. Leo, in the meantime, was tinkering a small sand crab, which Percy originally thought was supposed to help dust sand off his towel, but when he tried it, the crab just kinda set the whole towel and Calypso's dress on fire. She had rushed up, shouting at Leo, who managed to look timid at first but soon regained his usual self-confidence. In fact, it seemed like Leo thought that setting things on fire was a great skill to have, much better than dusting off his towel because now he was working on making the sand crab set off even bigger fires.

Percy smiled. He hadn't felt so relaxed in months. In fact, the last year had gone by so fast. There had been few good moments to hold onto, but they were there nonetheless. He looked over at Annabeth and smiled. He guessed a day could go by pretty fast when you were at an undisclosed location for eight months. Percy shook his head. All that could wait until the next day. Right then, nothing was important enough to make him move. Maybe no one would mind if he closed his eyes for a second too...

That's when he heard someone shouting. It sounded like Grover. He sat up.

"Percy! Annabeth! Hazel! Leo! Jason! Piper!" he yelled while running down the hills, trying to avoid falling. And failing, as he came tumbling down the hill. Percy couldn't help but shoot his friend a lopsided grin, as he frantically tried to get up on his feet again.

Annabeth was on her feet in a matter of seconds. She reached to pull out her knife before she realized, that 1) it was just Grover, and 2) She didn't have her knife anymore. She got an angry expression on her face when she remembered how she had lost it. Percy figured that was why she shot a glare at Grover, even though he had done nothing wrong.

"‘Sup, man?" Frank asked him, drowsily. He was sleeping then, Percy noted.

"Chiron want you all in the big house ASAP!" Groover said panting, while clumsily getting to his feet again, "I have to go find Nico too, and I have to meet up with Juniper for our anniversary. Aw, man, she's so gonna kill me if I'm late. See ya later!" he ended abruptly and then quickly rushed off again. Percy groaned. ASAP was not then the best thing to say to a bunch of kids with ADHD.

Percy pushed his sunglasses up. "You think it's urgent?" He sarcastically asked the others. They all shrugged and smiled. Nobody made a move to get up at first, but when Frank turned into an eagle and flew away, they all grudgingly got up and started walking towards the Big House to find out what Chiron wanted.

As they entered the room Percy could sense that this was, in fact, urgent. Chiron sat in a corner, while Hecate, the goddess of magic, stood right before us. Percy gulped. Talk about ruining a fantastic day. Things that started with goddesses in a room usually didn't end up very well. In fact, they tended to end up rather horribly.

"Sit," Hecate said and gestured to eight chairs in front of her. They complied. "Now where is tha-" Hecate was interrupted by Nico walking through the door. He sat on the last chair, without uttering a word.

"Well then," Hecate started. "You all have been called here to go on a very special quest-" Percy growled. "Special" usually meant extremely dangerous and bad for his health. "-in which you will be helping not only me and my successors but also the lost soul of a goddess." They must've all have looked pretty confused because Hecate smiled.

"Don't worry, children, I will explain all. But first, I'm going to tell you the story of the lost goddess,"


	2. Chapter 2 - The Story of the Lost Goddess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to let you know that I am making all of the seven including Nico the same age (17) for the sake of the plot(which will stray a bit from the canon plot

Annabeth leaned back as Hecate started telling the story of the lost goddess. She had asked that none of the demigods interrupted her during the story. That meant that Annabeth had to hold off all of her questions until the end of the story. She sighed.

"Once upon a time, in the 1930’s, there was a young girl. This girl was lovely. She had beauty, she had grace, and most important of all, she had faith. Faith in The Lord, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Her family was very religious and very rich. The young girl was swarmed by young men wanting her hand in marriage. The girl lived a wonderful life, and every day she praised The Lord for it.

“That was until one day when she realized that she was pregnant. She did not understand how this could be, as she had never shared a bed with a man. Nor a woman, for that matter.

“Of course, no one believed her when she said this. Her family kicked her out on the streets, like the common whore they thought she was. The girl cried and begged for forgiveness, but little did it help. The only one who felt pity for her was the house's maid. The woman threw a blanket at the girl to wrap the baby in when it was born and whispered that even Jesus had to be laid in a crib when he was born. Then she walked back into the house.

“The young girl found a place to live in an old, abandoned apartment. She lived there until the baby came. And when it did come, it was the most beautiful baby girl that the young girl had ever laid eyes on. She loved her right from that instant, despite all the trouble the baby had cost her. The young girl gave her daughter the ancient Greek name Corianna, meaning "maiden," as a tribute to the family maid, whose name she did not remember.

“Corianna grew and there was something very special about her even from a very young age. People, both men, and women, children and adults, would throw themselves at her feet, willing to follow her every command. But as Corianna was good of heart, she helped them up when they threw themselves down, smiled at them, and then calmly walked away.

“Her mother had become fonder of men, and slowly let go of her old beliefs. First, she let one man share her bed, then another, and then another. The problem seemed to be that the men were always fonder of Corianna than her mother.  Corianna would lie sleepless at night dreading that one of her mother's male friends would come into her room. Luckily she had an escape.

“One night when she was around 9 years old, a strange boy with black hair around her own age came seemingly out of nowhere, appearing in her room. He said that he had seen how sad and scared she was, and that he could take her somewhere safe. She took his hand without a doubt.

“They ended up in a dark place. Corianna curled up in the boy's arms and allowed herself to feel safe for once. Once the morning came the boy took her back to her room. After then the boy came almost every night.

“But the boy was not always there to protect her," Hecate coughed, trying to hold back the tears. Annabeth could imagine what happened on the nights when the boy was not there. Suddenly, she too was struggling to hold back some tears.  Then Hecate continued:

"Corianna learned very quickly that people can not be trusted. The only two people in the world she could trust was her mother and the mysterious boy she had come to know as shadow boy. They never talked to each other.

“Then came the first big betrayal in Corianna's life. Her mother had slowly grown more and more jealous of Corianna. She had convinced herself that Corianna was the root of all her problems. If it wasn't for Corianna, she would've been a respected married woman, living in a big house with plenty of money. So one morning when Corianna woke, her mother was gone. Corianna cried.

“She stayed in her mom's old apartment for two weeks. She was afraid that if she left Shadow Boy would not be able to find her if she moved. He never returned.

“This time, Corianna didn't cry. She packed up her few belongings and went down to the town's children's home. She was only fourteen, and all alone in the world.

“People began to notice her. Men wanted to marry her. Women wanted to be her. Some people dug up pieces of the ground where she stepped. By the time she was sixteen, a war was raging. Each side was trying to win her approval. No one realized that the girl was long gone before the end of the war. This war almost destroyed Europe. You know it as World War 2," Hecate stopped, her breath shivering. It was clear that she was very fond of the girl in the story. 

"What about the girl in the story, my lady?” Annabeth asked, “Who was she? What happened to her?"

Hecate took a deep breath. "We will come to that, my dear. Now you all know that there are both Greek and Roman forms of the gods. But did you know that they used to have an Oceanic form?"

The demigods all gasped. Annabeth shook her head slowly, back and forth. This was news to her. Beside her, she could hear Percy mumbling something that sounded like: "You gotta be kidding me." She turned her head back to Hecate, who started talking again.

"Yes, this is true. Very few people know because the Oceanic god forms almost never had children with mortals. But they had a very important purpose. They were the rulers of the other godly forms. They were the missing link between the Greek and Roman forms. It was when they were extinct that the remaining gods started having an identity crisis. 

“I will now tell you another story. Not long ago, in fact just after World War 1, the Oceanic gods were on the brink of extinction. They decided to combine all of their power, along with a fraction of power from every gods and goddess in both Greek and Roman form. They wanted somebody who was able to control them if a need ever be. All the gods agreed, even the minor ones. Their powers were mixed in a crystal glass. As they look down at the mixture, colors pulsing in the shades of the rainbow, a thought occurred to them. A god with this much power would most certainly go insane, so they decided that the power should go to a demigod. The human part of them would balance out the power. They sat down the glass on earth for a mortal young girl to drink it. 

That is how Corianna's mother got pregnant. At the beginning of World War 2, the gods saw how much effect Corianna's power had on the mortals. It drove ordinary people insane. Therefore they brought her to Olympus. They made her a goddess. The goddess of solitude and good-hearted spirit. The most powerful goddess of them all. Due to her origin, she was able to draw power from or grant power to any celestial being she desired. This had never dawned on the gods before, but when it did, they were scared. 

She was concealed in Olympus, with two guards always by her side. They were called the twins. Rosa and Felix were their names. But about a year ago both them, and Corianna were kidnapped," Hecate looked at us.

"Wait," Jason said, "If all of this happened a year ago, why are you telling us now?" Annabeth looked at Hecate, both curious and suspicious. When the goddess did not answer immediately, it took all of her strength to refrain from repeating Jason's question.

"Because they reappeared again without their memories."

 


	3. Chapter 3 - Where the gods once again need us to save their...well butt's!

"Wait, still, why are you telling us?" Percy leaned forward repeating Jason's question. He didn't understand. Why couldn't the gods just pull Corianna back up to Olympus?

Chiron stepped forward. "Well, Corianna has been planted between some of the successors of Hecate. That means that the gods can't interfere. Corianna's power won't affect the scared of Hecate as much as it would if they were mortals, but it will affect you even less. We need you to bring back Corianna's, or Cory as she goes by now, memories. To do that you need to go to a very special place called Hogwarts. It's a school in England," 

Percy almost fell off his chair. An English school? He'd rather take on Gaea again. All he ever heard suggested that English schools were super strict.

"This is no ordinary school," Chiron continued, "All of the students have magical powers because of their relation to Hecate. This has forbidden Hecate and to other gods from interfering. Now, my lady...?" Chiron turned to Hecate. She waved her arm, and eight boxes appeared on Chiron's desk. Then Hecate disappeared into thin air.

Chiron shook his head. "That goddess," he mumbled, "Very well then, listen up!"

"A very long time ago Hecate had a demigod child. The child never became a great hero, but grew up to have many children. The children also had many children. And so did their children. Soon they had spread all over the world. They all had inherited magical powers of various strengths from Hecate. They called themselves witches and wizards. Hogwarts is a school for their kind."

As Chiron finished telling them about the wizarding world, Percy just got more confused. That might have had something to do with the fact that his ADHD was acting up, but still, phew, that was a mouthful. He'd have to question Annabeth about all this later. She'd probably been paying attention, no doubt. Chiron said they'd know everything they need once they touched their wands. They were in the boxes on the table.

He began presenting them to the demigods assembled in the Big House.

"Now," he said, "remember, that wizards don't know about demigods, and we would like to keep it that way. Therefore, you must tell no wizard what your wands are made of! Are we clear?" Chiron looked around. All of them nodded vaguely.

"Very well then. Piper McLean. Your wand is made of pinewood, 9 inches, unbendable, with a core of harpy feathers and dragons tongue." Chiron gave Piper her wand. A breeze blew Piper's hair around. Then she sat down completely quiet.

"Leo Valdez. Your wand is made of an oak tree. 13 inches, bendable, with a core of dragons scales and lava stone," The exact same thing happened to Leo as to Piper.

"Frank Zhang. Your wand is made of a cedar tree. 8.5 inches, very bendable, with a core of dragon's tooth and crystal salt." When Frank sat down, Chiron turned to Jason.

"Jason Grace. Your wand is made of an elm tree. 10 inches, slightly bendable, with a core of melted sand and Phoenix's feather." He moved onto Hazel.

"Hazel Levesque. Your wand is made of a maple tree. 12 inches, bendable, with a core of diamond dust and pure gold strings." Annabeth was up next.

"Annabeth Chase. Your wand is made of an olive tree. 11 inches, rigid, with a core of owl feathers and unicorn hair." Chiron looked at Nico.

"Nico di Angelo. Your wand is made of weeping willow wood. 10 inches, slightly bendable, with a core of shattered bones and iron."

"Percy Jackson." Percy stood up at the sound of his name. "Your wand is made of palm tree, 15 inches, unbendable, with a core of coral and crushed emeralds"

He took the wand. Then it seemed as though he was drenched with ice-cold water. A wave of knowledge flowed through him.


	4. Chapter 4 - Hogwarts Letters

"Wake up, mate!" Ron shook Harry's bed so hard he almost fell out. Harry wondered what had gotten into him. Maybe he had finally lost it. Maybe, he had been overcome by all the things that had happened last year, and finally snapped. After all, he was usually the king of sleeping in late. Harry sat up and put on his glasses. He hoped this was important. Otherwise, really, he felt Ron had no reasonable right to drag him out of his bed this early. Harry had been planning on sleeping in, enjoying the peaceful state he had been in all summer.

"There's post for you. It looks quite important!" Ron said nervously. Harry didn't know why he was so worried. It couldn't be that bad. Voldemort was dead, the Death Eaters weren't causing trouble anymore, and everything emanated peace. Then Harry saw the owl. 

It looked very official, like the kind the Ministry and Hogwarts used. Harry sighed. Letters from the Ministry never,  _ ever, _ brought good news. There had been a time when Harry had been excited about the official owls. They had brought the news to him that he could finally leave for Hogwarts. Harry used to look forward to those letters all summer. However, his days at Hogwarts were over, which meant the owl had to be from the Ministry. Harry sighed again, and reached out for the letter. In the same instant, another owl swooped in through the window. Harry assumed that it carried a letter for Ron. He took his letter too, and they looked briefly at each other before they tore their letters open.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am pleased to announce that Hogwarts will be welcoming you back this year.

Due to the Great Wizarding War last year, the staff at Hogwarts is of the idea that some of you may not have quite achieved the goals that are set for a Hogwarts graduate. This may cause you trouble in your further education, and career.

Therefore most graduated seventh years have been invited to join their underclassmen to finish their glorious education this year.

Furthermore, Hogwarts is pleased to this year welcome 8 students from Mr. Brunner's Academy of Magic, as well as 3 students from the Royal Danish Institution for Magically Gifted Children to study as some of our own. These will be welcomed along with our returning seven years. I trust that you will welcome them with open arms.

We look forward to seeing you.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall

Book List:

Apart from the books that you studied last year, you will be needing following books for this school year:

\- "Movements and spells; Standing still can be the end of you," by Nakarettet Spielhaugen

\- "What doesn't kill you will injure you, and then kill you," by Livlonee Kaskakata

\- "A master's guide to deadly weapons," by Livlonee Kaskakata

Harry looked up at Ron, who was still reading. Then he heard a loud squeak from the next room. Hermione rushed into the boys' room.

"Can you believe it? We get to go back to school!" Hermione almost jumped up and down from excitement, "I wonder who the new teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts is? Whoever they are, they put some interesting books on the book list," Hermione looked at her letter again. Harry figured she had already read the books.

"I don't know the books, but they sound very violent. Sure hope they're only theoretical," And on that uplifting note, Hermione left the room.

Harry got out of the Weasleys' car. They only had to go to Flourish and Blotts, as they already had the other supplies they needed for the school year, but Harry supposed they would probably visit George in his store.

When Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked into Flourish and Blotts, Harry noticed something strange. There were 8 teenagers around his own age in the store. Normally that wouldn't be strange. The weird thing was, Harry didn’t recognise any of them. 

There was a tall, muscular, black-haired, green-eyed boy asking for the books to get for Hogwarts,  a blonde girl walking along the bookshelves carrying a giant pile of books. Harry saw a shimmer by her side. Was that… a dagger? When Harry looked again the shimmer was gone. How odd.  _ Well, _ Harry thought to himself,  _ I guess Hermione will love her, with all those books she is carrying. _

There was a tall, blonde guy in the corner kissing an attractive, Native American looking girl. Harry quickly looked away from them. He himself had never been a big fan of PDA, but looking at them made him think of Ginny. He hadn't had a moment alone with her all summer. He bitterly thought of all the times they'd tried, only to interrupted by Ron, Molly, Arthur, or Hermione. 

Harry's glance fell on a scrawny boy wearing goggles on top of his head, fiddling with a little gadget of some sort that he couldn't quite determine the use of. Harry figured he had put a spell on it. One moment it was on fire, the next it was shining without a scratch. Harry wondered what spell it was, he had never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, the fire hadn't been as harmless to the girl standing next to the scrawny boy, a little first year, Harry assumed, who was now crying, and calling out for her mother. The boy was standing still, attempting to look guilty, as the little girl's mother flew off a handle, and started screaming at him.

Someone bumped into Harry, forcing his focus away from the scrawny boy. Harry turned around. "Excuse m-" Harry stopped mid-sentence when he saw who had bumped into him. It was a tall, very buff guy. He was built like a rugby player. Harry didn't want to ever have take him on, or any of the new teenagers for that matter. They all looked exceedingly muscular for people of their size and age. The tall guy took a step back.

"Sorry, dude, my bad!" he said, with a heavy Canadian accent. He was holding hands with a smaller girl with golden eyes. They both smiled at Harry and apologized again. The girl, Harry noticed, had an American accent. They then walked away. Strange.

"Well, let's get our books," Hermione said. They were heading for the shelves, when suddenly a boy appeared. He had black hair and very pale skin. Aside from that, he was dressed entirely in black, with a silver skull ring on one finger. He gave off a dangerous vibe. Harry could've sworn he wasn't standing there a moment ago. He shivered. The boy was very careful not to touch anyone as he walked towards the green-eyed, black-haired, muscular guy. He mumbled something in his ear. The green-eyed boy nodded and called out. "Hey, guys! We’re leaving!" He also had a thick American accent. All the teenagers in the store left together. That was peculiar.


	5. Chapter 5 - New to this world

When they walked into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, George came to greet them. He and his mother quickly went to the back room to discuss "some very important things, young man". The rest of the Weasley family started to walk around. Hermione and Harry soon lost Ron in the crowds. They decided that they could wait a bit to look for him, as he was probably just staring at something he thought was cool.

Then Harry spotted her. She was probably the most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on. Don't misunderstand anything here, Harry still thought Ginny was the most lovely girl to ever grace this earth with her presence. But this didn't seem like just a girl. She seemed different. Maybe like a fairy or a mermaid, or a relative of a veela. She had long, silvery white hair that hung down to her hips. It seemed to gleam, reminding Harry of a Patronus. She had silvery blue eyes. 

It wasn't the eyes Harry noted the most, although they were ominous. No, he noted the slight swelling around them, indicating she had been crying not long ago. And underneath her eyes, heavy bags and black lines gave away sleepless nights, almost as clear as if she had told him herself. Her skin was so light it is almost transparent. She seemed very fragile, like a glass sculpture. 

Harry changed his mind. This girl didn't seem like a fairy, she seemed more like a ghost, that had somehow been embodied. She looked to be around Harry's age, but still, there was something ancient about her. Like an echo from another time. Harry didn't know her, but at the same time, he felt as if he could trust her with his life. Harry felt like he had to help her. If she told him to do something, he would have probably done it. He couldn't say why. He didn't even know her name.

"Do you need any help?" Harry asked her. She looked at him and smiled. Despite the lightness of her smile, it still seemed so sad. The girl opened her mouth and was about to say something, but a voice, growling, answered for her. 

"She doesn't need any help." It was a tall boy with black hair, black eyes, black clothes and dark skin. He grabbed the girl’s arm. Harry looked at the girl, but she didn't appear to be angry or scared, just tired.

Another boy grabbed her from the other side. "Yeah, she's fine." As the boy spoke it was clear to Harry that it was in fact not a boy, but a girl. She looked almost identical to the other boy. The only difference was that her short, black hair was filled with blue and purple stripes. The blonde girl looked at her, clearly frustrated.

"It is quite alright, Harry," she said. For a split second, Harry wondered how she knew his name. Then it hit him that she could probably see the lightning scar on his forehead. "I don't need help. I'm Cory, nice to meet you," Cory continued. She had an accent that Harry couldn't quite place. It sounded kind of Norse. Before Harry could answer her, Hermione pulled him away.

"What did you do that for?" Harry asked. 

"Time," was Hermione's abrupt answer. Harry looked at his watch. They were supposed to meet up with the Weasleys five minutes ago.

That evening for dinner, Harry decided to ask Mrs. and Mr. Weasley about all of the teenagers he saw when they were in Diagon Alley. 

"Mrs. Weasley, are there coming new wizards to Hogwarts? I saw a lot of teenagers today that I haven't seen before," Harry looked at Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, I don't know, Harry dear," she frowned, "With the war over it is quite possible that Hogwarts wants to form bonds with other schools." Mrs. Weasley frowned.

"Harry, honestly! Don't you pay attention to anything?" Hermione shook her head at Harry, "The letter from Professor McGonagall said the there will be exchange students at Hogwarts this year. And I think it's a  _ good _ thing," Hermione said, "Hogwarts is far too isolated from the other wizarding schools." Mr. Weasley nodded his agreement.

"Well, some of them had American accents, so maybe we are going to get some new students from the US," Harry said, "I also met someone with a Norse accent," Hermione and Ron looked at him.

"It. Was. All. In. The. Letter," Hermione scowled at the same time as Ron said: "How do you know what a Norse accent sounds like?" Harry shrugged. How did he know what a Norse accent sounded like? He had never met anyone from Scandinavia. Maybe he had seen a movie with Nordic actors.

"Well, we better go get some rest," Ron said very loudly. Hermione nodded and agreed. 

"Yes, let's go!" 

Well, Harry thought, they probably wanted some private time to go snog. At least they were polite enough to leave first. 

"Come along, Harry," Ron pulled Harry along. Harry guessed they weren't gonna snog after all. At least he hoped they wouldn’t bring him if they were.

When they got upstairs, Ron shoved Harry into a wall. "Did the new students seem odd to you too?" he asked. Hermione looked at Harry with tension in her eyes. 

"A little," Harry admitted. Ron and Hermione exchanged a look. "Why?" Harry then asked.

"Well," said Ron, "first of all, there was this little black-haired, pale boy. He appeared out of nowhere. And I don't mean like Apparition. I mean, like, he  _ faded into the room from the shadows _ . It was  _ really _ scary. And Hermione said she saw... tell him what you saw," the last part of the sentence was directed towards Hermione. She took a deep breath.

"Alright then! In Flourish and Blotts there was a guy that bumped into you, remember? Tall and Canadian?" Harry thought about the giant fella. Wondered if he had got any giant's blood in him. 

"Yeah, I remember," he said, sheepishly. He couldn't see what this had to do with anything. Hermione continued. 

"Well, that was because he tripped over something. When I looked to the ground, there was an enormous gold bar, that by its looks appeared to be pure, and a sizable ruby next to it! I stopped to look at them, but two seconds later they sunk back into the ground. I thought I must have been crazy. Then later in Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes... That girl you were talking to? The boy that felt extremely protective of her, and I think he had a  _ sword _ . A sword made out of _ crystal _ ," she finished.

“Who even carries swords anymore?” Harry frowned. 

"Now that you say it, I think I saw a girl with a dagger too," He said remembering the shimmer by the blonde girl with the books' side.

Ron shook his head in confusion. "If they do come to Hogwarts, we gotta keep an eye out for them," he said worriedly.

Harry couldn't have agreed more.


	6. Chapter 6 - New Kids on the Block

Of course, they got to station late, Hermione grumbled to herself. Harry and Ron were such a pair of snails. She couldn't believe they weren't as excited about going back to school as she was. And, hopefully, this year they wouldn't even have Voldemort to worry about. It was gonna be as easy as scratching your back.

When they finally got on the train (after a tearful, but somehow still reprimanding, goodbye from Mrs. Weasley), all the compartments were full. 

Shoot, Hermione thought, that meant they had to sit together with someone else.

"Here!" Harry yelled, "There are only four in this one," Hermione made her way up to him. She looked in through the windows of the compartment. 

Inside were three boys and one girl. They all looked very nice, especially the boy sitting on the right. Hermione nodded at Harry. He knocked. She could hear him ask if they could sit in there with them. "Sure thing," the girl replied, with a strong American accent. The American teenagers. Hermione squinted. She was going to keep an eye out for these new exchange students. And what better way to do that than to make friends with them.  _ Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer _ , she thought. All three of them walked in and sat down.

Once Hermione had gotten herself comfortable, she turned to the boy and the girl in front of her. The girl was truly beautiful. She had long, princess-like honey blonde curls. Hermione sighed. She would kill to have hair like that. She absentmindedly ran her hands through her own hair. It was frizzy, as usual, and she probably looked like a mess compared to the girl across from her. Her eyes were stormy gray. Her expression was kind of scary like she was judging Hermione, planning to take her down, and reading her life story all at the same time. 

The boy next to the beautiful girl had unruly black hair, like Harry's. His eyes were like the ocean. Hermione couldn't quite determine if they were blue or green or both. She pondered about this and decided in the end that the colors seemed to shift, like waves crashing on the beach. Bizarre. She also couldn't help notice that he was very muscular. The lean kind of muscular, where one could really see that he worked out. 

Hermione bit her lip. She caught herself looking the boy up and down one more time, before quickly looking away. She blushed. He was very handsome. Harry and Ron sat down next to the American teenagers. They didn't look too comfortable.

The two boys next to Hermione both looked very strange. The one she was sitting next to had brown hair, with goggles nestled in the wild strands, and was wearing a tool belt. Hermione scrunched up her nose. He smelled like he had set something on fire, and from the mischievous look in his eyes, he probably had. Overall, he looked very peculiar. 

The other boy almost looked ill. His skin was pale, although it had an olive undertone. Italian, Hermione determined. He looked very Italian. Or maybe Greek. He had dark lines under his eyes that also were completely black. 

No, Hermione thought after a second look, brown. A very dark brown, but brown nonetheless. He had black, greasy hair that fell down into his eyes. Hermione felt a stab in her heart. It reminded her too much of Sirius. With a shiver, she remembered that this was the boy that faded out from the shadows yesterday. He looked like he should've just stayed in there. Become a part of the shadows.

"Hello. My name is Hermione Granger," Hermione said, suddenly very aware of her poor manners. The blonde girl smiled. "and this is Harry and Ron," Hermione pointed to them. The handsome boy stretched his arms. 

"‘Sup," he said. Hermione snickered at how American he sounded. "I'm Percy," he continued pointing to himself, "That's Leo," The boy with the goggles interrupted. 

"Nah, I'm the smoking hot Leo McShizzle Valdez, Perce. Don't forget the surnames and titles." He winked at Hermione. She blushed.

Ron possessively put an arm around Hermione. An arm that clearly said 'taken'. Hermione felt her heart flutter in her chest. She blushed again. What was it with all the blushing today? Normally, she didn't just blush out of the blue.

"Now, now, Leo," the blonde girl teased, "you wouldn't want me to tell Calypso about this now, would you?" Leo visibly pale. The blonde girl smirked. "Didn't think so. Stop flirting with girls that aren't your girlfriend!" Leo slumped back in his seat, but he evidently knew better than to argue with this girl. Calypso must’ve been scary.

"Anywho," Percy picked up where he left off, "that, over there, is Nico," he pointed to the boy in the corner, "or would you prefer Death Breath? After all, can't forget the surnames and titles," Leo, Percy, and the girl laughed. Nico glared briefly at them. Then he looked back out of the window. He didn't seem to be much of a talker. 

"Don't be so serious all the time, Neeks," Percy leaned forward and messed up Nico's hair. Nico scowled at him. Hermione almost laughed out loud when she saw how they behaved together. It was like watching Ron with his brothers. Then Percy put an arm around the girl. Of course, they would be a couple, Hermione thought. Just like in the movies. Beautiful American people always ended up together.

"And this is the lovely Annie," Percy said with a grin. The girl, whose name was apparently Annie, hit Percy on the arm. 

"Seaweed Brain! Stop being such a jerk! No kisses for you for a month!" she said with fake anger. She turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "My name is not Annie, it's Annabeth. And," she stared coldly at each of us, "I will kill anyone who calls me Annie. Got it?" They all nodded and Annabeth, not Annie, relaxed just a fraction. Hermione couldn’t help but wonder if she would make good on her threat. Judging by the rest of her appearance, probably.

Percy kissed her on the cheek. "Aw, come on, Wise Girl, don't be mad," They had a very intense nickname game, Hermione noticed. Wise Girl? Seaweed Brain? 

"You are impossible, Perseus Jackson," Annabeth said, but she gave up and kissed him. Leo was pretending to vomit next to Hermione. Percy and Annabeth stopped kissing, both blushing. Hermione smiled, glad she was not the only one blushing all the time.

"So how long have you two been together?" Hermione asked curiously. Percy scratched the back of his head. 

"Well, technically I guess about a year," Annabeth snorted. 

"Well, yeah technically, but someone," she pointed to Percy, "was missing for eight months," Percy raised both his hands as to say that it wasn't his fault. What on earth? Missing? That sounded serious.

Hermione grinned and looked out the window. They were almost there. "We better change into our school robes," She said, "Do you know which house you will be placed in yet?" From the amount of confusion on their faces, Hermione thought it safe to assume not.

"Guess not," She said, "Catch you later,"


	7. Chapter 7 - Well, that sure as heck is a castle

When he stepped off the train, the first thing Percy heard was loud shout: "First 'ears, come with me!" Was he a first year? A bunch of 11-year-old kids ran towards the voice. Percy decided to not go with them. He walked along with Annabeth, Leo, Nico, and the kids they had met on the train, um, Hemini, Ron, and Barry? Nope, that didn't sound quite right.

They came up to some pegasi dragging some large cart like wagons. They looked sort of dangerous, not like Blackjack and the other pegasi, back home at camp. Percy scratched the closest one behind the ears.

_ That's the spot, _ sir.  _ I'm Shadow Fury _ .

The horse almost moaned. Percy bit his lip so he didn't burst out laughing. Then he pulled a sugar cube up from his pocket and fed it to SF, which he'd already decided to call the horse. SF ate it right out of Percy's palm. He took a step back. Larry, Hermon, and Don (?) were staring at him. 

"What?" Percy asked. 

"It let you scratch it? It only ever lets Hagrid come near it!" Harmina (Shit, what  _ was _ her name?) exclaimed. Percy shrugged. Not wanting to explain to them that was a son of Poseidon, Percy made a dismissive gesture towards the horse thingie. Awkward.

"Well, we can't all be in one wagon, it only holds six people," Larry/Barry said, "so if we spl-" He was interrupted by Nico. 

"I'll go find somewhere else to sit, you go," He glanced at Percy, and got his intentions across. He was gonna shadow travel to the school, thus avoiding any real form of interaction with actual people, who were, you know, not dead. 

"Alright, Neeks, be safe," Percy said. Nico looked at him for a second and then wandered off.

Percy stepped inside the cart along with Leo, Annabeth, Snarry, Von, and Harmonica. It started driving. 

"So Percy," Harcicima asked, "Who did you see die?" Percy stared at her blankly for a second. Countless reactions flew through his head. Draw his sword, deny everything, grab Annabeth and bust out the cart. Hermione pulled down her tie and looked at him expectantly. Percy was just about to open his mouth, probably screwing up whatever chance they had of completing this mission when someone came to his rescue. 

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Hermione (So  _ that _ was her name!)," Drarry said, "Do you realize how rude that sounds?" Hermione looked nervously at Percy. 

"Oh, gosh Harry! I didn't realize how nosy I was being! I am so sorry Percy! It's just because you can't see the horses, Thestrals unless you've faced death!" Percy's eyes fluttered to Annabeth's. He could tell they were both thinking the same thing. They had literally faced Death, capital d. Percy cleared his throat. 

"It's alright Hermione. It just was a little personal." he said, "And, to answer your question, my... friend Luke. He was… erm..." Percy ravaged through the things he had learned about wizards in his head, "He was under the Imperius Curse, so I had to you know..." Percy waved dismissively. Next, to him, he saw Annabeth shoot a look at him. Half sad, half angry. Luke still brought up some bad memories, but he couldn’t tell the wizard kids that they had fought in a war that no one knew about. Hermione nodded sheepishly.

When he looked out the window, Percy was met by a breathtaking sight. It was an enormous castle. Annabeth was completely speechless for a second. Then she started rambling on about the amazing architecture of this place. Percy cast his best apologetic smile at Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and then looked fondly at Annabeth. Some things never changed.

When they got out of the cart, an efficient looking, elderly woman called Percy and Annabeth over. Percy could already see Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Nico standing by her. The couple walked towards her. 

"Now come along, children," she said, "I am Professor McGonagall. You will be sorted out to one of the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. When you behave badly, points will be withdrawn from your house, and when you do something good, points will be awarded to your house. There will be an opportunity to try out for your house's Quidditch team," Percy looked at Jason. Quidditch? If it was some sort of competition, he was in.

They walked up to some large doors. Percy could hear running footsteps behind them, and turned around, his hand inching toward his pocket, in which Riptide was. Three kids about his age came up. One of them was simply beautiful. Percy couldn't think of any other way to say it. 

She had long silvery, white hair, all the way down to her hips. She had bluish eyes, with a sort of silvery undertone to them. Her skin was so pale, Percy could see her veins underneath it. Even her skin seemed to glow with a silver light. Percy decided, that if a moonbeam was to come alive, this would probably have been what it looked like. The girl seemed so small compared to the two other kids. 

It was two boys. They looked almost identical, except that one of them had purple and blue streaks filling his hair. They looked very scary, muscular, and ready to start a fight. They both had short, spiked, black hair, much like his own. They had completely black eyes. Percy felt his fingers creeping toward Riptide again. These kids emanated trouble.

"Who are you, if I might ask?" McGonagall looked confused but still managed to keep her strict facial expression somehow. Scary 1 and Scary 2 sneered. The petite girl curtsied. Was that a thing people did in England? 

"I'm sorry ma'am," the girl said, "but we were told to follow you. This is the twin- I mean Aidan and Cameron," she gestured at Scary 1 and 2. Percy snorted. What kind of name was Aidan? "And I'm Cory," the girl continued. Percy perked up. Cory. Wasn't that the name Corianna went by? And the twins...he peeked at Annabeth. She looked very concerned.

"Ah, yes! The exchange students from Denmark," McGonagall said, "I didn't think you would be able to make it before tomorrow?" If looks could kill she would've been headed down to Hades. Aidan and Cameron looked like they wouldn't mind just killing her, the old-fashioned way, either. Cory just smiled warmly. 

"We got here early," she said, looking McGonagall straight in the eyes. Then Percy was struck with the realization that Cory hadn't looked at any of the demigods. Aidan and Cameron were both looking at them with an I-will-kill-you-if-you-even-look-at-her-wrongly glare. They evidently felt very protective of Cory. But she herself had been avoiding looking anywhere, but straight at McGonagall.

"Alright then," McGonagall said as the doors swung open. They walked behind her with open mouths. The room was excited. There were four tables filled with pupils. But the truly amazing thing was the ceiling. It looked exactly like the sky outside and was filled with flowing candles.

"When I say your name, step forward," Professor McGonagall said, "Chase, Annabeth,"

Annabeth walked up to her. McGonagall put the old hat on top of Annabeth's head. Then something weird happened. The Hat started talking. Annabeth almost jumped out of the chair.

"Gryffindor, Gryffindor!" the hat yelled, "Anyone that has been through  _ that _ place, belongs in Gryffindor." Annabeth got up and walked to the table applauding. Percy figured that must've been Gryffindor. He gulped. He had a pretty good idea what “that place” was. Cory was standing next to him. Percy could feel her shaking, and shot a glance at her. Her eyes were glued to her feet.

"Di Angelo, Nico," McGonagall called. Cory's head flicked up at the sound of Nico's name. She stared at him. Then, out of nowhere, she grabbed Percy's shoulder and whispered something he barely heard.

"Shadow Boy."

And then they both blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8 - Exposition through flashback... Well if you insist

Percy woke up in a dark room. 

This was definitely not his room. Percy was standing and looking at the bed with a little girl in it. He sensed a movement to his right. When he turned, he saw that it was Cory. Even in the dark room, she was illuminated by some silvery light. She was looking at the scenery in front of them with tears streaming down her face. Percy turned back to the bed. 

Even though he knew it was dark, it was like he could see every detail. He could see the girls eyes widely open. They were the same color as Cory's. He knew that the little girl was trying to be as quiet as possible. Even her breathing was quiet. Percy knew that she was listening. Trying her hardest to hear if there were any footsteps in the hall. She was scared. Percy could hear her heart beating rapidly. What if someone came in?

The room started turning even darker, if possible. Percy felt a little uncomfortable, but the girl was built feeling relieved. 

"Shadow boy?" she whispered, "is that you?"

A young version of Nico stepped out of the shadows. "Yes," he said and reached out his hand. The girl took it. Their surroundings blurred out until they were completely black. All Percy could see was the girl and Nico, sitting, with her curled up in his arms. He stroked her hair.

"What's your real name?" the girl was still whispering. Nico hesitated. 

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" he asked. The girl nodded. "Nico Di Angelo," The girl looked at him. 

"Nico Di Angelo," she repeated softly.

The two children faded away. Now all Percy could see was Cory. She was still crying, ever so gently. 

She looked straight into Percy's eyes. For the first time, he noticed how vulnerable she looked. Suddenly, he understood Aidan and Cameron's desire to protect her. 

"How is he still alive?" she asked whispering. Percy realized that she must have been the girl the Nico told his name. He wanted to answer her so badly. Tell her that Nico was trapped in the Lotus Hotel for 70 years. But just when he's about to speak, a white, glowing string burst out through Callie's chest. Percy felt the same happening to him. The two strings connected. They started to pull Percy and Cory closer and closer. Suddenly they slammed together and everything turned white. Percy heard a loud chime in his ear.

Then his eyes fluttered open.


	9. Chapter 9 - Surprises at the sorting

When the American exchange students came through the door, Hermione was surprised. They hadn't come in along with the first years, who had already been sorted, so Hermione had assumed they were being sorted in private. 

As they walked in, Hermione couldn't help but, once again, feeling a bit intimidated. She had no doubt, upon looking at them, that this was powerful, and probably dangerous, people. As they stood in the middle of the hall, they seemed so big, compared to the young first years that had been standing in the exact same spot moments before. Hermione wondered if any of them would end up in Gryffindor.

"Chase, Annabeth!" Professor McGonagall called. Annabeth walked up to her.

"Gryffindor, Gryffindor!" the hat screamed, "Anyone that has been through  _ that _ place belongs in Gryffindor!" Annabeth walked towards our table, looking equally scared and confused. She seemed shaken but managed to shoot a smile at Hermione. She was glad Annabeth got sorted into Gryffindor, she seemed really sweet, but she wondered what the Hat had meant by “that place.” It usually only said the house name and sent the sortee on their way.

"Di Angelo, Nico!" McGonagall called out. Nico got up, his permanent glare still on his face. It was no wonder that his friends called him Death Breath, Hermione thought. If death was a person, Nico would have definitely been him.

Hermione sensed a sudden movement amongst the transfer students, who were yet to be sorted. It was that girl from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. The one with the bodyguards. Hermione scanned the crowd. Yup, her bodyguards were there too. She could see the girl saying something, and grab Percy, who was next to her. For a moment pain flickered over Percy's face. 

Then both of them passed out. Hermione stood up with a gasp. In the background, she could hear the hat screaming Gryffindor again. She hardly noticed. Hermione turned to face Annabeth, who had a scared and angry look on her face. Aggressively, she pushed through all of the people blocking her way to Percy.

The passed out girls bodyguards had also reached her. They tried to lift her, but she was still holding onto Percy as if it was a matter of life and death. Annabeth reached them. She tried to pull Percy and the girl apart, but it didn't help. It was almost as if they were glued together.

Suddenly the girl's eyes sprung open. She quickly tore her hand of Percy and started running her hands down over her chest. She looked down at it, almost like she was expecting something to stick out. When she found nothing, she looked suspiciously at Percy. He too had begun to groan, and slowly wake up. Hermione could barely see him, all the transfer students from America surrounded him. Hermione felt someone push her aside. It was Nico. She shivered. He was gonna be in Gryffindor. Along with her. Although, he had seemed nice enough on the train, a little shy if anything, Hermione had to admit she was scared at the thought of sharing a house with him.

Everybody was mumbling, and shooting strange looks at Nico. He reached Percy. Suddenly the girl that passed out together with Percy began sobbing uncontrollably. Nico looked at her, clearly taken aback. This caused her to cry even more ferociously. She was shaking, and her bodyguards looked like they were ready to kill Nico.

"Silence," Professor McGonagall shouted, "Now if neither of you is hurt, we will proceed," She looked pointedly at Percy and the girl. They both nodded at her. Everyone sat back down. 

"Grace, Jason!" Professor McGonagall called. A tall, confident-looking guy walked up to the hat. After a brief moment, it shouted Gryffindor. Hermione clapped along with the rest of the table. He sat down, next to Nico.

"Jackson, Perseus!" Hermione saw Percy grind his teeth. 

"Just Percy," he said with looming eyes. Hermione further revised her opinion on Percy's eyes. When he got mad, they were like a stormy ocean. The hat was placed on his head. It didn't immediately answer. Instead, it made a lot of mummers, and sounds of disagreement. At last, it spoke. 

"Well if you are sure, then it better be GRYFFINDOR!" Percy got up and sat down at their table. The rest of the American students got sorted. All into Gryffindor. There was only the mermaid-like girl and her bodyguards left.

"Ztyx, Aidan!" McGonagall called. Aidan was apparently the name of the bodyguard with blue and purple streaks in his hair. 

"Actually," a voice that immediately let Hermione know that she was mistaken. Aidan was not a boy, but very clearly a girl, "It's Addy. Aidan is just so masculine, eh?" Aidan looked at McGonagall with an almost relaxed expression. 

Hermione could see McGonagall's left eye twitch just a tad as she put the hat on Addy's head. She seemed so stretched thin this year, Hermione noticed. Something must've really been bothering her. Addy was sorted into Hufflepuff, along with Cameron Ztyx, the other bodyguard, who was clearly also unsatisfied with the name he was called by. Hermione assumed he knew better than to correct his name to McGonagall.

Then the turn came for the last girl, as McGonagall called the name: "Ztyx, Cory," Hermione huffed, surprised. They were all related. If not brother and sisters, at least close relatives. Close enough to share the same last name.

As Cory walked up to the stool, people turned to look at her. Hermione even caught herself staring at Cory with an unusual attention. Cory walked up to the stool, almost as if it was the walk to her own execution. She sat down. For a minute or two, the hat didn't say anything at all. Hermione could feel everybody in the Great Hall holding their breath.

"Better be...GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled at last. Almost unwillingly, Hermione got up and cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindor table. Cory sat down at the table. Hermione could see everyone move just a little closer to her as if she was an invisible magnet.

"Now, let's eat!" Professor McGonagall said. Food appeared on the table. Everyone all dug in. Halfway through the meal, Hermione noticed that Cory hadn't touched a thing. 

"Are you alright?" Hermione leaned over to ask her. She smiled friendly back. 

"Not hungry, that's all," she replied. When Hermione looked around, she noticed that none of the exchange students had eaten anything. They just sat and steered the food around on their plates. Strange.

"Prefects, please show the first years to their dorms," McGonagall said as people finished up their meals. Ron and Hermione had decided that they wouldn't be prefects this year. They were just going to enjoy themselves. The transfer students got up. Percy had his arm around Annabeth. They laughed. 

Then Hermione saw Cory grab Percy's arm. She whispered something in his ear. He turned to her and gave Annabeth a don't-mind-me-i'll-catch-up-later wave. Then he went off with Cory.

Annabeth looked pretty pissed. How oblivious, Hermione thought, could one person be? Percy must've known how it looked, when he picked another girl over his girlfriend, right? Hermione put her arm around Annabeth. She looked at her. There was a mixture in her eyes between anger, confusion, and heartbreak. Hermione assumed she would feel like that too if Ron ditched her to talk with some other girl. She smiled at Annabeth, who smiled back. 

"So what are you looking most forward to this year?" Hermione asked. Her eyes flicker to the direction Percy went. Darn it! Annabeth took a deep breath. 

"Well, being here with all my friends, and learning something new," She said with an insecure smile. 

"Brilliant!" Hermione said, "Me too!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know the seven + Nico don't all belong in Gryffindor. In fact I think most of them belong in different houses. However I really wanted them to be in the same house as Harry, Hermione and Ron. This will make including them in the story a lot easier. As for Percy, the hat was going to put him in Hufflepuf, but he asked to be in Gryffindor, so he could be with Annabeth. You can fight me on this, I think Percy belongs in Hufflepuf, no doubt.


	10. Chapter 10 - Weird Nicknames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop! I have few more chapters already written, but I've hit quite a block, so if you have any ideas, please, please, please comment them! I could really use some inspiration.  
> Also constructive criticism is always welcome :-)

When they got back to the Gryffindor common room, Harry sat down with Ron, Hermione, and the exchange students. He noticed that Percy and Callie were missing. He wondered where they could be?

"So," Ron said, "We've already met Leo, Nico, and Annabeth, but who are the rest of you?" Harry looked at them, along with Ron and Hermione. He was curious too.

"Well, I'm Jason," The tall blonde guy said. He had electric blue eyes, and radiated an aura, not that different from Percy's, Harry thought. On that clearly marked him as the alpha male in the room. Harry wondered if Jason and Percy clashed a lot when they were in the same room. After all, there could only be one leader. 

"That's Hazel," Jason continued to point at the girl with dark hair and hazel colored eyes. In a way, she reminded Harry a bit of The Gray Lady, Ravenclaw's house ghost. Harry couldn't quite put his finger on it, but somehow she seemed out of time, like she was older than him although they looked about the same age. 

"That's Frank," Jason pointed to the enormous buff guy, who sent a surprisingly warm smile in his direction, 

"That's Piper," Jason pointed to the gorgeous Native American girl, with feathers in her hair, a devilish smile, and kaleidoscope eyes, that constantly changed colors, "The most beautiful girl to ever live," Jason put his arm around her, with a smirk. She kissed him on the cheek. Leo's face was full of surprise. 

"Wow, Jase! You almost out-boyfriended Kelp Head on that one!" He joked. They laughed. Harry couldn't help but laugh with them, even though he didn't get the joke.

Hermione asked, "Could you please explain your nicknames to us? It's getting quite confusing," Leo smirked mischievously. 

"Well," he said, "Jason is Sparky or Superman, Piper is Beauty Queen, Hazel is just a sweet little cornflake, no nickname for her, Frank is Canadian Babyman, Annabeth is Owl Face or Annie..." Annabeth growled and looked at Leo with murder in her eyes, "Well, maybe just Annabeth," Leo proceeded, after taking Annabeth's ability to kill him in two seconds flat into consideration, "Nico is Death Breath or Shadow Boy, and Percy is Kelp Head,"

"How about you?" Harry asked.

"He's Repair Boy!" Jason almost shouted. They all laughed.

In the same moment, Harry heard the portrait swing open. Cory came running in with tears streaming down her cheeks. She ran up the stairs to the girls' dorm. Not long after came Percy. 

"Wait, Cor..." Harry heard him yell, "I won't tell anyone!" He tried to run up the stairs after Cory. The second he did, the stairs turned into a slide. Not a second later, Percy was sitting confused on the floor.

Everyone laughed. Soon Percy started laughing too. He got up and sat down next to Annabeth. He tried to put his arm around her, but she wiggled out. She looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"What did she want?" Annabeth said rather sharply. Percy, who was apparently not completely oblivious to her deadly voicing, gave her a vague answer 

"Oh, she just wanted to chat, you know..."

Percy was rubbing the back of his head while looking down. It was pretty obvious that he was lying. Annabeth looked wounded. Harry could see tears filling up in her eyes. She quickly blinked. Nico cleared his throat. Harry almost jumped ten feet up in the air. He kept forgetting that kid was even there. It was scary.

"What is it that you won't tell anyone, huh Perce?" Nico asked with a mischievous gleam in his dark eyes. Oh boy. Harry could already tell that trouble is coming. This was not good. Code red.

"Yes, Perseus, I would like to know too," Annabeth said coldly. She used his full name. This was not good. Harry looked at Annabeth. Her eyes had a very dangerous look in them. If she was looking at Harry like that, he was almost he would've died from fright. How Percy did not, was beyond him.

"Me too, Kelp Brain," Hermione spat mockingly. Okay, now Percy had gotten both Hermione and Annabeth mad at him. He wouldn't live to see another day. Harry was absolutely sure of it. He knew from experience that it was a bad idea to piss off Hermione. He still remembered those birds she sent at Ron, back in the fifth year. Couldn't recommend that to anyone.

Now, Harry didn't know Annabeth, but she seemed pretty dangerous. He glanced at the other exchange students. They looked scared for Percy too. Next, to him, Harry heard Leo whisper to Hazel, "Ooooh, boy is going DOWN!", and his suspicions were confirmed. Annabeth was, in fact, dangerous, and not to be messed with. Harry felt very sorry for Percy in that moment.

"Now, now Annie-Bethie," Percy said. Annabeth almost growled at the name. That boy had no sense of the situation. "If I told you, I would break my promise to not tell anyone, and we couldn't have that now could we?" Percy grinned and padded Annabeth's head. Harry had to agree with Leo, boy was going down.

Hermione stood up. "Hrmph," she grunted, "I think it's time to retire to the girls' dormitories, don't you Annabeth?" She said and looked down at Annabeth with a raised eyebrow.

Harry expected Annabeth to get up, and follow Hermione upstairs. Maybe lock arms with her, march up the stairs, and talk about Percy. Instead, she did something entirely different. She exchanged a worried look with Percy. He shared her expression.

"The boys and girls sleep separately?" Annabeth asked. Harry nodded. What did she expect? Annabeth and Percy looked at each other again. They both got up. 

"I... um... I'm sorry Hermione, I... uh... have to go... uhh... fix something together with Percy. Yeah," Annabeth nodded, "See you later." She and Percy ran off.

That was weird. Harry looked around. Ron looked just as confused as Harry felt. Hermione looked confused, but also a little offended. She clearly thought that she and Annabeth had an 'Oh-my-god-Percy-you-are-such-an-idiot' kind of moment. Clearly not. The other exchange students just looked at each other, as if to say 'NOT AGAIN'. Harry turned to them.

"Anyone want to explain what just happened?" He asked. Cue awkward silence. Leo and Jason glanced at each other, briefly, but Harry had a feeling, that they just had a whole conversation. Jason nodded at Leo. It was like he had to get permission to say something. Almost like Jason was his superior or something.

"Well you see," Leo said cautiously, "Percy and Annabeth don't really... cope... with separation. Especially at night,"

"Yeah, they went through Tarta- umph," Frank was interrupted, as Hazel elbowed him in the stomach, "Let’s just say they went through hell, that pretty much sums it up," He corrected, "Together," All the exchange students looked down, with various expressions on their faces. Sad, angry, pained.

Harry wondered what Frank was about to say. Tarta. Tarta what? What did Annabeth and Percy go through that left them unable to be apart?


	11. Chapter 11 - First Class Of the Year

Hermione didn't see Annabeth after she took off to go with Percy. No biggie. Hermione thought they were having a girl power moment, but nooo!

Neither Percy or Annabeth were at breakfast. Therefore, they both missed the schedules being handed out. Hermione looked at hers with confusion. She was sure there must have been a mistake. She did certainly not remember signing up for any of these classes. Well, maybe some of them, but still! They were as following:

8:00-9:00, Wandless Defense and Offense

9:15-10:15, Divination

10:30-11:30, Charms

11:45-12:45, History of Magic

13:00-14:00, Manners and Etiquette

14:00-15:00, Lunch (Included in previous class)

15:15-16:15, Potions

16:30-17:30, Care of Magical Creatures

18:00, Dinner

The worst part was that all her favorite classes, such as Ancient Runes and Transfiguration, were, in fact, not on the schedule at all! Instead, she was signed up for DIVINATION?! She had got to get McGonagall to fix this. No flippin' way she was taking a “Manners and Etiquette” class for 2 hours! What was she even going to use that for out in the real world? Hermione turned to Harry, who was sitting next to him.

"What is up with these classes?" She asked him. He grinned. 

"Now, come on ‘Mione, they're not that bad! Could be worse!" He said kiddingly. Hermione frowned and snatched his schedule out of his hand. Her face dropped. It was entirely different from hers.

8:00-9:00, Wandless defense, and offense

9:15-10:15, Divination

10:30-11:30, Charms

11:45-12:45, History of Magic

13:00-14:00, Transfiguration

14:00-15:00, Lunch

15:15-16:15, Potions

16:30-17:30, Care of Magical Creatures

Hermione felt herself fume with anger. She stomped towards Professor McGonagall.

"What in Merlin's blasted name," Hermione said pointing to her schedule, "is this,"

McGonagall looked tired. Instead of answering Hermione, she got up, and clapped, gaining the whole hall's attention.

"This year," McGonagall said, "We will be introducing some new classes. First of all, there's Wandless Defense and Offense, which will be replacing Defense Against the Dark Arts. I hope you all will be just as engaged in this new class as you would have been in the old class. Secondly, all girls in their seventh year are required to take a Manners and Etiquette class. This takes up a rather large part of your day. Therefore, the school's administration has personally decided which classes each girl needs the most, and selected the classes that she could do without. I hope you all have a very pleasant school year,"

McGonagall sat down as she finished. For a second the great hall was completely silent. Then a rush of whispers went through it. Hermione walked numbly down to my seat. Manners and Etiquette? Really? Well, at least this explained why she had to bring a pair of 'nice shoes, with a slight heel (2-3 inches) preferably with a T-strop, preferably pink'. Hermione sighed. She could already feel that this was going to be one long year.

As she strolled into the first class of the day along with all the other seventh-year Gryffindors and Slytherins, she was surprised to see a centaur standing by the blackboard. It was not Firenze, but someone else. To her surprise, all the exchange students seemed to know him. At least they all started elbowing each other and whispering, eyeing the centaur.

When Hermione looked around in the classroom, there were no tables or chairs. She chose to stand in the middle of the room together with Harry and Ron. Some other students followed their lead, a few people stood looming in the doorway, while most students went to lean against the wall. Hermione still couldn't see Percy or Annabeth anywhere. Luckily, when she looked around everybody else seemed just as confused as she felt.

"Settle down, class," the centaur said, "I'm Mr. Brunner, or Professor Brunner as you say here in England, and I will be teaching Wandless Defense and Offense. This class is a lot like DADA, but focuses more on physical fighting,"

The centaur, Professor Brunner, walked over to the large wardrobe in the corner of the classroom.

"Now, I know that most of you have faced a Boggart before," He turned to the American students, "but some of you have not. Therefore-"

Professor Brunner was interrupted by Percy and Annabeth bursting through the door. They were both breathing heavily.

"I'm so sorry we're late, we got lost, and the staircases move, and the pictures talk..." Percy gestured out in the air. Hermione snickered at how lost he looked. She understood getting lost on the staircases, but weren’t talking pictures normal? Why was he so confused about that?

"It's alright," Professor Brunner said, "Just take a seat," How were they supposed to do that, Hermione thought when there were no chairs? Now as I was just about to say, today we'll be facing boggarts. Anyone that would like to go first?" He looked around.

"I will," The buff exchange student, Frank, said. He looked completely calm, not as if he was about to face his worst fear.

"Very well Mr. Zhang," Professor Brunner lead him over to the wardrobe, "Now, as you know, a boggart shows you your worst fear. The spell is Riddikulus," Frank’s face paled. Suddenly he didn't look so calm. Strange, Hermione thought. He must have known what a boggart was.

Professor Brunner opened the wardrobe. The boggart instantly took form as a brightly burning fire. Frank paled and backed away. Hermione wondered why such a strong, buff guy was afraid of fire. Frank began to pat all of his pockets.

The small girl, Hazel, lightly placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. She stepped in front of him, and the boggart shifted into her worst fear. A man stepped out of the fire, as it faded. He was holding a tablet, scrolling down, before coming across what he was looking for. 

"Aha, Miss Levesque," he said, looking back at Hazel, who was standing petrified. Luckily Annabeth stepped in front of her.  _ Phew, _ Hermione thought,  _ Annabeth was smart. She must've had a logical fear. Not a weird fear, like a strange man, or fire. _

The boggart slowly, but surely, started to change form. It grew legs. It was a spider. Annabeth was afraid of spiders. Like Ron, Hermione noted. Although this spider seemed different. It had a face, and it was... weaving? Hermione shook her head. That couldn't possibly be right. She looked again. It was weaving pictures. Okay, now  _ that  _ was strange.

Annabeth's reaction was different from the others. Instead of panicking, she took out her wand and said the spell. She was so smart. Kind of reminded Hermione of herself. Suddenly the spider was trapped inside a pair of giant Chinese handcuffs. For some reason, this made Annabeth pale even more. Percy reassuringly stepped in front of her.

As soon as Percy was in front of Annabeth, the boggart shifted. It began to grow. All of a sudden, 4 people were standing in front of Percy. Two girls, both black-haired, and both dressed in silver, and two boys, one with black hair, who was missing an eye, and one with golden hair, and a scar on his face. One after one they stepped forward.

"It’s all your fault,"

"You could've saved us,"

"We died because of you,"

"We died  _ for _ you,"

Percy looked completely taken aback. There was a mixture of guilt and surprise on his face, but soon the guilt consumed his features. He raised his wand, but as he was about to say something, all of the figures' noses began to bleed. This left Percy in complete and utter shock. He didn't even move. Then, the most unlikely person stepped in front of him.

Cory.

Calmly, she stepped up to face the boggart. It began to change. The four persons suddenly faded into one. At first, Hermione had a difficult time working out the features, but soon she saw them clearly. Long, pale, silvery hair, ice blue eyes, and pale skin. It was herself. But somehow, she seemed different. Her eyes were ice cold. Her skin seemed almost sickly white. Her hair was dirty and ragged. Instead of looking like a fairy in the moonlight, she looked like a zombie.  _ She _ was her own worst fear. How...?

For a moment the entire classroom froze. Then Professor Brunner stepped in front of the boggart. With laughter, he forced it back into the wardrobe. Hermione didn't see what his boggart was, she was too busy staring at Cory. As was everyone else.

Professor Brunner cleared his throat, "I think that's it for today."

Silently, everyone walked out of the classroom, completely and utterly bewildered.


	12. Chapter 12 - The Not-So-Much-Lady-Fortune

As they walked from Chiron's, or Professor Brunner’s, as they were to call him, class to their next class, thoughts swirled through Annabeth's head. The situation was weird, to say the least.

To sum up, they had:

-A goddess, who didn't remember who she was, and whose worst fear was herself.

-Said goddess' two hella scary bodyguards, who just happened to be her brother and sister.

-Separated rooms for boys and girls, so Percy and Annabeth couldn't sleep together.

Basically, everything had gone to the hellhounds.

Annabeth desperately tried to think of solutions as she crawled up the stairs to the North tower.

When she reached the top, she was met with a wave of heavy air and a dreadful smell.

She looked around the room, where students were seated at small tables. She scrunched up her nose. She could think of so many other ways to exploit this room's structure. For example, if the shelves near the wall were rounded, or the tables were placed a bit to the ri-

Percy nudged her arm. "Ground control to Major Tom, come in Major Tom," Annabeth could hear him smirking. He had a tendency to catch her off-guard sometimes. And she hated it. She nudged him back and shook her head.

They headed down to the back of the room, where there was a free table. Percy jokingly pulled out Annabeth's chair and made a gesture for her to sit down while pretending to take off his imaginary hat. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him and sat down. He plopped down next to her and started twirling Riptide, thankfully still in pen form, around.

A few moments later an elderly lady walked in the room. Annabeth could barely see her through all the smoke in the room. She was assuming that this was Professor Trelawney. She looked pretty dramatic, and Annabeth could basically feel complacency ooze of her.

"My dear children," Professor Trelawney started dramatically, "I have terrible news!" Annabeth straightened up, ready for the worst.

"A terrible evil will come and consume us all! Oh, when you see like I see, it is your duty to warn the world! It is not a blessing, but a curse! Evil will come and consume us all! And, and, oh! You!" Professor Trelawney pointed towards Harry with a pompous gesture, "It will all start with you! Poor, poor child! You must really have been born under an unlucky star!" Professor Trelawney looks absolutely horrified and distressed.

Throughout the old woman's rambling, Annabeth had been getting more and more worried. This, was only until she heard scattered giggling. Annabeth looked around. Although two girls looked at Harry, like he could drop dead any moment, most people looked either bored, amused or both.

Hermione scoffed. "Oh, come on!" she said, "How many times have you predicted Harry's dead? Ten? More? Is he dead?" Annabeth looked over at Harry, along with Hermione and everyone else. "No," Hermione continued, "So what in the name of Merlin's beard makes you think you're right this time?" Hermione looked accusingly at Trelawney.

"Ahh, Miss Granger!" The professor turned drastically to Hermione, "I see you have the nerve to return to my class. After all that you have said," Trelawney feigned resignation, "I ought to send you flying out the door," Trelawney slowly shifted her glare from the door to Hermione. Annabeth rolled her eyes. If she was Hermione, she'd have been happy to be kicked out of this class. Heck, she'd even consider leaving it anyways. 

"But!" Annabeth jumped slightly at the sudden outburst. Percy put an arm around her shoulder as if to calm her down. "But..." Trelawney breathed softly, "When you see the way that I see..." She paused for dramatic effect, "You will know things," She turned to Harry, "Things! Like your fate! And," She slowly shifted back to Hermione, "that I must let you stay in my class. Yes, I have seen this! I saw you here! So I know that you must absolutely stay! Yes, my dear! I have seen you play an important role in the great play that is DESTINY!"

Throughout her rambling, Trelawney had moved closer and closer to Hermione.  At this point, Trelawney was mere inches away from Hermione's face. Hermione simply scoffed and turned her head.

"Are you sure Professor McGonagall didn't just tell you this? You couldn't have possibly seen anything. I mean, you're a complete fraud!" Hermione stood up, causing Trelawney to tumble back. "This 'fortune telling' you teach! It is not even accurate! I mean, aside from the fact that stars cannot possibly dictate your future, Pluto isn't even a planet. This mumbo-jumbo makes no sense! I can't believe McGonagall is forcing me to stay in this so-called class all year!"

Hermione was practically fuming with rage. Annabeth wouldn't ever have expected Hermione of all people to act this way towards a teacher. Percy, yes. In fact, Annabeth was a bit surprised he hadn't gotten into trouble yet. But Hermione? Never. Maybe she had a personal grudge against Professor Trelawney.

"Miss Granger!" Trelawney gasped. Her face was scrunched together, a mixture of hate and shock. Behind her, two girls were sending evil eyes towards Hermione. "I'm a teacher! You can't disrespect me like that! Detention! For a week!" Trelawney looked thoughtful for a moment, "And please! Leave this classroom immediately! I will be expecting you back next lesson. But for now, leave!" Trelawney pointed towards the door, rather drastically, causing her sleeve to fall over her shaking hand.

Hermione blinked, looked around the room for a second, looked back at Trelawney, and started gathering her things. Annabeth frowned. It was as if Hermione had had no idea what she was doing. The sudden outburst seeming completely out of character. Not a moment later, she was out of the classroom.

"Very well then," Trelawney looked back at the students, "Now, if you will please turn to page 13 in your books, then we will get started." And just like that, everything seemed back to normal.

But Annabeth did see Cory staring worriedly after Hermione. Just a lingering look, before she too turned back to her book along with the rest of the class. 


	13. Chapter 13 - Ever wonder what would happen if Kermit the frog and a pink poodle had a child together? This is what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back! Betcha thought you'd seen the last of me. Surprise!  
> I had a really hard time with this chapter, so please let me know what you think. Comments and kudos are always appreciated :-)

Piper grabbed Annabeth by the arm, and flashed a bright smile at Annabeth. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief. Annabeth found herself wondering if, perhaps, Piper was really a daughter of Hermes, not Aphrodite. She certainly had the attitude for it.

Annabeth supposed it was an area Piper prided herself on. The fact that she wasn't a stereotypical child of the love goddess. Annabeth wasn't especially proud to admit it, but before she met Piper, she had always looked down at the Aphrodite kids. Even after Selena's sacrifice, the Aphrodite cabin had been ridiculed by the rest of the camp. Maybe even especially then. When Drew took over.

Annabeth had complained numerous times to her. Drew thought it more important to cause heartbreak and do her makeup than fight as a collected union with the rest of the camp. And maybe Annabeth found Drew's crush on Percy a little annoying too. And maybe she was just a little jealous of the fact that Drew always looked like a princess. Annabeth had always been insecure around the Aphrodite kids. Even Piper, she supposed.

"What's up, Pipes?"

"You owned that charms lesson homie. You see the lady professor looking at you? She wanted you bad my brotha!" Piper made some kind of obscure hand sign at Annabeth and started running her hands up and down her body very sensually. "All like, ‘uh, good job, Miss Chase,’ she was craving the Annabeth juice, sista!"

All while talking Piper had continued accompanying her speech with weird hand gestures, even hitting her crotch at the final word. Annabeth couldn't help laughing.

"What in Hades was that?"

"I wanted your undivided attention," Piper said and stuck her arm under Annabeth's. "All jokes aside, you were great in there."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Well, anyways," Piper looked quickly over her shoulder, and whispered, "This next class, the manners class, right? I'm thinking we don't wanna do that. So, whatcha say we start a revolution? Eh?"

"You mean, just refuse to do what the teacher says?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "She's probably just doing her job. Go after the government instead."

Both girls laughed. Piper squeezed their arms a little, before letting go to start skipping. Soon she was jumping from tile to tile. Annabeth laughed again. It was easy to do that when she was with Piper.

"You know, you're right. Go after the big man. Fuck the system. Smart. I need to run all my revolutionary ideas by you first from now on."

"All? You make it sound like you have a lot?"

"Oh, you have no idea. Don't let this pretty face fool ya."

"Of course not."

"I'm serious. I could totally be a criminal mastermind."

Both of the girls were still laughing when they arrived at the Great Hall, where their next lesson would take place. They were met with the sight of about thirty girls, standing in two separate groups. There were roughly ten in one and twenty in the other. Annabeth caught sight of Hermione and Hazel standing in one group. She waved at them. When they stood next to each other like that, they could almost be mistaken for sisters. Frizzy and curly hair, smooth dark skin, and of course the same uniforms. It also added to the idea, that they were standing exactly alike, wearing matching angry expressions.

A small pink lady startled Annabeth, by walking suddenly over to Annabeth and Piper. She looked horrifying. Heels clicking against the pavement, hands clutched tightly together, pink. The worst part was her smile. Awfully fake, and dripping with a facade of sweetness. Annabeth's first association was Hera. And boy, did she not like that comparison.

"Two more, how lovely." The pink lady clasped her hands together. "I'm your teacher, Professor Umbridge. Let me look at you girls! Twirl for me. Go on."

Annabeth lifted an eyebrow at Piper, who returned the gesture. Still, they did as the teacher said.

"Hm, let's see what we have here." Professor Umbridge started walking around Annabeth. "Nice hair." A hand stroked down Annabeth's curls. "Terrible posture." A smack between her shoulders. "Eyes a bit dull." The small lady clutched Annabeth's face and pulled her down. "Nice features, although awfully tall..." She stepped back. "Yes, alright, I suppose, you can't have everything. You can go over there. What's your name?" She looked down and pulled out a list.

"Annabeth Chase," Annabeth replied, completely stunned. What had just happened?

"Well, Miss Chase, you qualify for the ‘beautiful’ group. Good job," The professor smiled at her. She pointed to the small group, the one Hermione and Hazel were not in.

Annabeth stood still, completely shocked. Were they being judged by their looks? She already really hated this woman, Professor Umbridge. She doubted her teaching skills even more than Professor Trelawney's.

"And you," Umbridge turned to Piper. "It is a shame." She shook her head. "You are quite beautiful, pretty eyes, but alas..." She sighed. "your skin color does ruin it all. You can go to the other group. Name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your name, miss. And then you can go to your assigned group."

"It's Piper. Piper McLean."

"Great Pumpkin. Go ahead and go to your assigned groups. Off you go." Annabeth looked at the two groups. Now that she knew what they were, it was clear that everyone not white was put in the ugly group. Annabeth felt a burning rage in her stomach. Piper was literally _ the daughter of beauty itself. _ She almost turned herself around to teach this lady a lesson, but Piper grabbed her arm. She shook her head and mouthed 'Later' to her. Annabeth fumed, but nonetheless she made her way to her group.

Cory and Addy walked in. Umbridge proceeded to scan them over before sending Cory over to Annabeth's group. She then laughed loudly, before speaking to Addy, loud enough that everyone could hear her.

"What on earth are you doing here? You're not a girl."

"Yeah, I am."

"Well sweetie, something in your pants would like to disagree."

"I might not have been born a girl, but that doesn't mean I'm any less of a girl than all of the people here."

Umbridge laughed again.

"Nonsense. Now be gone." She flicked her wand. And just like that, Addy was sent flying out the door.

Umbridge turned to the class, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Now, if everyone is here, please put the shoes that you brought on. This first lesson will be in posture."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I think Umbridge is racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist. This is not beliefs I stand behind. It's just how I imagine her character would be.


	14. Chapter 14 - Something wicked this way comes

Harry couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the girls' manners class.

Harry had arrived at lunch, not expecting any girls from his year, since their schedule had been different from his own. And sure enough, when he came into the Great Hall with Ron, there had been no girls. For a while, they fooled around and did stupid things they probably wouldn't have done if the girls were there. They laughed at stupid dares; Ron was dared to stuff his mouth full of potatoes, Frank was dared to hold a mouthful of pumpkin juice in his mouth for as long as he could. Of course, almost every dare ended up a disaster. But they still laughed. Harry even found himself warming up to the exchange students. It seemed all of a sudden like they were less of a threat, and more like they were just different from him.

"So Pwershy," Ron spoke with his mouth full of food, "Wmhat’s wmhith youw and thabt gwirl Cwory?"

"What?" Percy grinned. "Can't understand you."

Ron swallowed.

"I said," he leaned forward, "what's up with you and that girl Cory? I thought you were with Annabeth."

"What do you mean?" Percy frowned. "I am."

"Oh really." Leo joined in. "Because you seemed reaaaal friendly with her after the sorting." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"She just wanted to talk to me about something."

"Sure she did," Nico smirked.

"It's true!"

"Mm-hmm, didn't say it wasn't."

"Guys, leave him alone," Frank interrupted, "if he says nothing happened, nothing happened. And that's final."

"Thank you, Frank. You're a real friend." Percy glared at Nico and Leo. "Unlike someone else, I could think of."

"Aw, don't be mad, amigo." Leo leaned over to ruffle Percy's hair. "We're just kidding. Right, Nico?"

"For sure," Nico said with a devilish smile.

The sight of Percy's pout caused to the whole table to roll over with laughter. Harry joined in. Every time he almost got a grip on himself, someone else would snicker, and it would start all over. Eventually, even Percy himself joined in.

And then the girls came in.

It was like a march of doom. Their faces were gray, every single one. It as if all life had been drained from them. Some of the girls even had scratches on their faces, and one girl had what seemed to be a broken nose. Annabeth, Harry realized. Annabeth had a broken nose. Suddenly the warmth and friendship he had felt towards the American boys mere seconds ago vanished into thin air. Suddenly it was them and us once again. They were a threat. What had they been thinking letting their guard down? He instantly moved away from Frank, whom he seconds earlier had been bumping shoulders with. Across from him, he noticed Ron doing the same.

Hermione dumped down in the seat next to him. If he was being honest, she almost looked worse than some of the other girls. And definitely worse than she usually did. Normally she would follow uniform regulations with the utmost precision, but now her tie was undone, her shirt was untucked, and her cape was nowhere to be found.

"Blimey, ‘Mione!" Ron said from across the table. "What happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost! Scratch that. You look like you've been attacked by one!" 

Hermione sighed, completely lacking her usual bite and confidence. Her shoulders slouched, and she put her head in her hand.

"You don't have to rub it in, Ronald." She looked up. "I know I look terrible. Our new teacher made that very clear." She put her head down on the table and sighed again.

"New teacher?" Harry asked. "They that bad? What's the name?"

"Umbridge. Dolores. Bloody. Umbridge."

"As in pink-loving-Voldemort-supporting Umbridge?" Harry asked. He shot a quick glance at Ron, who looked just as surprised as he felt.

Hermione nodded dejectedly.

Harry sat back, completely stunned. It had to be some sort of mistake. Umbridge had been all too eager to kill muggle-borns under Voldemort's regime, and now she was in charge of students again? Someth ing didn't add up. So many strange things were happening this year. The sudden callback to school, the exchange students, and now this. What was going on? Harry looked over at the exchange students. Maybe they were a part of it? What if this was a new way for the Death Eaters to infiltrate the school? They send in teenage Death Eaters and a pureblood supremacist teacher. That way they could slowly influence the young fragile minds of the younger students. Those who hadn't seen the war first hand. The ministry could be infected with Death Eaters again. It all seemed to fit together a little too well.

Ron, sat at the other side of the table, looking equally stunned, piped up.

"Yeah, but a terrible teacher doesn't explain why you all look like you've been in a street fight. What happened?"

Hermione frowned.

"It was weird. It all started when Umbridge kicked Aidan, sorry Addy, out. It was like..." She hesitated. "I can't explain it. Suddenly, I just got so mad. And not just me. Everyone. It was like someone put an amplifier on the hate I already felt towards Umbridge. I couldn't control myself." She looked over at Annabeth. "Annabeth punched her. Square in the face. Just like that. Broke Umbridge's nose. She cast a spell so the same happened to Annabeth. It was awful. By the end of it, everyone was fighting each other, to get to fight Umbridge."

"You were fighting each other?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Yeah." Hermione shook her head. "It was the weirdest thing. I was just so angry. And you know what the strangest thing was? It wasn't the first time."

"What?"

"In Trelawney's class. The same thing happened. It was like someone took my anger, and amplified it by ten thousand."

"What is going on?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Harry looked at Hermione.

"Me neither." She said. "But I think..." she nodded towards the exchange students, "it has something to do with them." 


	15. Chapter 15 - An Ocean Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoever asked for Solangelo, hope you enjoy!

Things had been gloomy since the girls came back.

Annabeth had had briefly explained what had happened. How an unexplainable anger had come over her. Both Hazel and Piper had agreed with her, saying that something similar, yet completely different, had happened to them. Piper had suddenly felt embarrassed, and Hazel had felt like crying. They had all agreed that the feelings had been there already, but they somehow had been amplified. Piper had already felt embarrassed, because of what Umbridge had said to her about her race, and Hazel had felt sad because of the same thing.

When Nico heard how Umbridge had treated the girls, he had half a mind to go shadow-travel Umbridge to a quiet spot on the North Pole where she wouldn't be found. Nobody had a right to treat other people with such utter disrespect. Especially his sister who had already been through so much. The only thing stopping him, was Will’s voice in the back of his head, saying he would tie him down if he tried to shadow-travel again.

“You know what’s funny,” Annabeth leaned forward, “It was like none of us were affected before Addy was kicked out. Then everything went crazy.”

“You think she had something to do with it?” Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Not necessarily.” Annabeth licked her lips. “You remember how Hecate said everyone went crazy around Corianna? Well, the same thing could be happening here. Her mere presence could be amplifying our feelings. Particularly the negative ones.” She frowned. “Maybe it only kicks in when she herself is feeling distressed.”

“That’s a good theory except for one thing.” Jason crossed his arms. Everyone looked at him. “Didn’t Hecate say we would be unaffected her powers? Because we’re demigods?”

Annabeth put her head in her hands. “Of course. Why didn’t I think of that.” She looked quizzically at Jason. ”Could it be the school affecting us?”

“Or maybe someone put a spell on us?

“Or her powers are stronger than we thought?”

Nico rubbed his temples. He felt everyone's voices blend together until they were only a buzzing. He looked over to Cory, only to find her already staring at him. He looked away quickly. He was quickly developing a thundering headache, and it only seemed to be getting worse. God, he wished Will was here. He looked back at her. Their eyes locked. He felt something prodding at the back of his mind. Something that he didn’t quite remember. The buzzing of voices slowly turned into the sounds of a big city. People shouting. Car horns honking. A train whistle blowing. His head was pounding. He quickly looked away.

“Do any of you,” he interrupted Annabeth. Everyone looked at him. “Do any of you… kinda feel like… you remember her from somewhere?” He nodded towards Cory.

“No.” Percy leaned towards Nico, with an urgent look in his eyes. “Do you?”

“I don’t know.” Nico shook his head. “I feel like I do.” He sighed. “That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Forget I said anything.”

“No.” Percy grabbed both of his shoulders. “It doesn’t. It makes perfect sense.” He shook Nico a bit, before turning back towards to the rest of the group. “Look, the night of the sorting, when Cory and I both fainted-”

“Guys, we need to finish this later,” Leo said urgently. “ We are getting some serious stink eye from the wiz kids.” He tilted his head in the direction of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. “Maybe we should try to blend back in.” Everyone looked at Annabeth for an answer.

“Okay.” She shot Percy a loaded look. “But we  _ will _ finish this later.”

As they scooted back towards the three wizards, Nico noticed that the hall suddenly seemed jittery. It spread like a wave. A complete opposite to the grave silence and hushed voices there had been since the return of the girls. People seemed to perk up. It felt like they were children on Christmas Eve. Full of excitement and expectation. They looked up to the roof, that today showed a cloudy, but bright sky.

And suddenly, like a wave, in came the owls. It was like nothing Nico had ever seen. The different colors pulsated amongst one another like leaves in autumn. They sounded like thunder, several hundred wings flapping simultaneously, yet still out of time with each other. And the letters.

There were letters in all sizes. Nico even saw some packages and a small owl struggling to carry the enormous letter it was carrying. Nico stared at it. He was almost worried it wouldn’t be able to get the letter to the receiving party when it started falling towards the ground. But last minute, Ron reached out his hands and caught it.

Nico was taken by surprise when a heavy letter dumped down in his lap. It wasn’t like the other letters he could see being delivered. It was bright red, and even smoking a little. Ron stared pitifully at him.

“What?” Nico snapped.

“Aw, mate, you better run,” Ron shook his head, “cause that’s a Howler.”

“What in gods’ names is-”  Nico was interrupted by the letter in his laps exploding.

“Hi, Sunshine!” An easily recognizable voice boomed out from the letter. It felt like the entire hall turned to stare at Nico. He sunk a bit further down in his seat. He was going to kill a certain blond-haired son of Apollo when he saw him again.

“I hope you’re doing alright,” Will’s voice continued very loudly, “you’re not doing any of you dark, shadow magic, now? That’s off-limits - doctor's orders!” Despite himself, Nico felt a smile grow on his lips. “Everything is fine here at camp. We got two new campers, and nobody died, so that’s good news. You just continue kicking some English wizard butt over there like I know you’re already doing! Stay safe, I love you.” The voice ended abruptly. Nico sat, completely frozen.

Will had said he loved him. For the first time. Did he mean it? Probably not. Maybe it was more like a simple way to end the letter. But what if it wasn’t? Did Will expect Nico to say it back? Did Nico want to say it back? Oh gods, did Nico even love Will? He thought he did. But what if he said it them, and Will meant it more in a casual way? What even was love?  What if-

“He warned me he was gonna do it.” Percy disturbed his train of thoughts.

“Huh?”

“Will.” Percy swallowed some food. “He wrote to me that he had found a way to send you an exploding letter. I thought it would be funny to see your face.”

“Oh yeah.” It wasn’t like it was tearing down on Nico emotionally. “Hilarious.”

“Who was that?” a sickly sweet voice asked. Nico looked up to see the pinkest lady he had ever laid eyes on. That had to be Professor Umbridge if Annabeth’s description was anything to go on.

“That was my…” Nico remembered that conversation he had had with Will. For a second he had half a mind to say significant annoyance. “That was my boyfriend.”

“Oh no, no, no!” Umbridge said with a smile. “That won’t do! We can’t have these young minds,” she pointed to the younger children, “exposed to that kind of sin! Detention, until you have learned the errors of your ungodly ways! Boys should be with girls, that is God’s plan!”

Nico watched her walk away, completely dumbstruck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell, I really hate Umbridge.


	16. Chapter 16 - Thing The Trio Heard By The Fireplace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romione shippers rejoice

As far as Hermione was concerned, nothing good ever came out of it when they broke out the invisibility cloak. And she suspected that this time would be no exception.

Normally, she would have had a lot to say about listening in on other people’s conversations, but she was willing to look past her morals this time. She just hoped it wouldn’t be the start of an era of continuing to ignore her own rules.

But when it came down to it, the suspicion towards the American students had outweighed her logical side. Logically, she knew that none of the exchange students were Death Eaters. They had all talked to her, a mudblood, and not once had she sensed one of them being condescending. Intuitively, however, that was a different case. She had already been wary of the foreign wizards. She had seen the dark marks on their forearms, and they had an aura about them…

She had been prepared to look past this and give them the benefit of the doubt. Then, the Howler had come. Not only was it the only  _ friendly _ Howler Hermione had ever heard, but its content had been, to put it mildly, disturbing. Talking about dark magic, and  _ deaths _ in a mysterious camp with a carefree tone. The sender was cheerful that there had been _ no deaths. _ Like people died all the time or something there! Super creepy. All it had taken for her to finally give in was Ron asking if she thought it was suspicious. They were definitely hiding something.

“I’m just saying,” Ron sat down next to her, “strange things have been happening since they arrived.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Hermione looked at Ron.

“Well first we see them with weapons in the bookstore,” He held up his fingers to count on, “then they make a girl faint at the sorting. Umbridge is suddenly back, but she is being attacked by her students. And now one of them gets a howler talking about dark magic?”

“You’re right.” Hermione sighed, suddenly infinitely tired. She put her head on Ron’s shoulder. “What can we even do about it? We have no proof.”

“Well…” Ron put his arm around her. “Harry and I overheard them talking. They’re gonna discuss something tonight in the common room. We thought we’d break out the old cloak. What do you say?”

“Maybe it’s a private matter. Unrelated to black magic.” Hermione didn’t sound convinced, even to herself.

“Do you really think so?” Ron looked into her eyes, full of concern. She felt a warmth spread in her chest at the thought that he valued her opinion so much.

“No.” Hermione snuggled closer to Ron. “But I want to. When are they meeting?”

Now that they were actually hiding in the common room behind a couch, watching the peculiar group of wizards gather, Hermione was beginning to second guess their plan. What if what they were going to talk about had absolutely nothing to do with her? Then she, Harry and Ron would be intruding on a private conversation. Not only that, they would also be trapped with no way out.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” She whispered to Ron. He shrugged.

“Either way, it’s too late now.” They heard footsteps. “Shh, they’re coming.”

They ducked further down behind the couch and watched as the Americans gathered. Surprisingly, the exchange student from Denmark wasn't there. Huh. Only the Americans then. Hermione was a bit surprised. She kind of thought they were all working together on some kind of plan. Apparently not.

“Is everyone here?” Annabeth looked around. Of course, it was her who started the meeting. “Good, we have a lot to discuss.”

“Yes,” Leo said, “first of all; Percy. What the fuck is going on? You sneak around with Cory. Which is fine, you know she’s the reason we’re here, so we have to earn her trust. But then you don’t tell us what’s going on? That’s a shady dude.” Nico hummed in agreement.

“Yeah,” he said, “You acted so weird when I said I felt like I knew her. No offense, but it feels like you know more than you’re letting on. What are you not telling us?”

“I know it sucks to have us corner you like this, but we need to trust each other bro.” Jason chimed in.

“Look this is going to sound so weird guys, and every time you guys asked, the wizard kids were there, so I couldn’t explain.” Everyone looked impatiently at Percy. He sighed. “It’s like… Cory and I have this strange… connection.” He looked up. “It started at the sorting. I keep… seeing things. Memories of hers. The thing is though, it feels like she’s experiencing them for the first time too.” Percy looked at Nico. “She recognized you. At the first thing.”

“How is that possible? I don’t remember everything about the 30’s, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t travel around visiting small girls in their bedrooms.” He frowned. “That sounds worse when I say it out loud. I mean I couldn’t even shadow travel back then, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Chaos is already beginning to break out,” Hazel said. “She creates it unwillingly. We have to find a way to get her back with us.”

“I agree.” Annabeth straightened up. She looked towards the trio’s hiding place. “Did you guys hear that?”

“It was probably nothing.” Piper glanced towards the invisible eavesdroppers too. “But maybe, just to be sure, we should break this up?” Everyone agreed.

When they were gone, Hermione ripped the cloak off. She started pacing around the room. Thoughts started swirling in her head. There were so many things that didn’t make sense. It was like trying to solve a puzzle with only half the pieces. How did the exchange students and Umbridge fit together? What was Cory’s place in all this? How the  _ fuck _ was that young kid born in the 1930’s? And none of those kids seemed at all weirded out by anything he had said?

“What do you think Leo meant when he said they were here for Cory?” Harry was the first to break the deafening silence.

“None of this makes any sense,” Hermione said. She frowned in frustration.

“Do you guys think they’re out to hurt her? Cory, I mean.” Ron asked.

“I don’t  _ think  _ so…” Hermione looked worriedly at him. “Could they be?”

“Think about it.” Harry sat down. “We know nothing about them. Except that some of them have tattoos on their forearms, that they hide whenever we catch a glimpse. Something that just happens to be a Death Eater thing. And one of them practices dark, shadow magic? It seems like an awful lot of coincidences.”

“But why would they be after Cory? Didn’t Percy say that they had a connection?” Ron said.

“Maybe that’s why.” Harry looked at him. “We could go through their suitcases tomorrow before dinner?”

“I can’t.” Hermione sighed. “Detention.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“But you two go ahead, and be sure to tell me what you find.”


	17. Chapter 17 - What Happened Down Below

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holla! Bet all y'all thought you'd never hear from me again!  
> But seriously, if you're still following this story, thank you so much!! Y'all're amazing!!  
> This is basically only dialogue, sorry, not sorry.

Hermione didn’t consider herself a violent person. At least, not most of the time.

Sure, she had punched Draco. And kept Rita Skeeter in a jar. And participated in a war where there had been lots of violence involved. Maybe, come to think of it, she was a violent person. However, nothing, absolutely nothing, in her entire life could measure up to the anger she felt when she thought of Dolores Umbridge.

Getting detention was bad enough. Hermione had really hoped to have a year free of drama and misconducts. It wasn’t all that much to expect, really. Voldemort was dead and gone, and so her problems should be too. But she got detention. It was fine. She could handle it. Stick it out and try to control herself better in the future. Of course, it was never that simple.

A principle didn’t die simply because its frontrunner did. It had, in retrospect, been naïve of her to think that the prejudice against Muggle-borns would die along with Voldemort. In her defense, she hadn’t expected  _ Umbridge _ to be back at Hogwarts. Or in control of detention for that matter.

Naturally, the old way Umbridge had conducted detention had been strictly forbidden. So, Hermione thought, at least she wouldn’t be forced to carve  _ I am an ugly mudblood _ or something into her skin. But, at the moment, it almost seemed preferable to this.

She looked out over the dungeon that once had held Slytherin’s basilisk. Technically it still did. The corpse of the monster lay decaying and toothless along the room.

“Now, my dear children,” Umbridge cooed, her signature sweet smile in fast place. “Your task today will be to clean this room up. In fact,” She turned to Hermione and Nico di Angelo, who was standing next to her, “it might take several days. This new system of detention I’m instating focuses more on the task than the time. Which means, you will be free to leave when you’ve cleaned up this entire place.”

Hermione had to restrain herself from following Annabeth’s example and punch Umbridge. This lady could not be serious. Why was there even any reason for them to clean up that miserable place? No one was ever going to use it.

“It has been remodeled to be accessible through this door, without the use of parseltongue. It has since then been gifted to me as my new quarters and office,” Umbridge said, as if reading Hermione’s mind, “so I trust you will do your finest job. When you are done, I will come back to let you out.”

Umbridge started walking towards the door. She turned around last minute.

“ _ Accio wands! _ ” She waved her wand. “Wands are off limits.”

The door slammed shut behind her. Hermione heard the click of a lock.

“Urgh!” Hermione felt like screaming in frustration. “How are we supposed to clean this room without a wand  _ or any cleaning supplies _ ? What is the point of this? That evil, good-for-nothing, scheming  _ witch  _ could clean up this entire dungeon with a flick of her wand. Why does she even want her office down here anyways? Probably because she feels more kinship towards that  _ cold-blooded, dead snake _ than she ever could with any living person!”

Nico snorted somewhere of on her right. Hermione turned towards him, fully ready to take her anger out on him. He smiled condescendingly at her before walking towards the furthest, most shadowy corner of the room.

“Do what you want. I, for one, am out of here.” Nico closed his eyes. This time, Hermione snorted. As if he could get out of there. She sat down, leaning back against a wall. All she had to do was wait for him to come to his senses, and then they could come up with an actual plan. He opened his eyes and turned to her. “Why can’t I leave?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because we’re trapped in a dungeon without wands?” Hermione rolled her eyes and mentally resisted the urge to add  _ dumbass _ .

“No, no, you don’t understand. I should be able to get out of here. This isn’t right. I can’t go through this again.” For the first time, Hermione saw a flicker of emotion clouding the boy’s eyes. Fear. Their group had apparently been through some shit if the only emotion he ever expressed was fear.

“Yeah, well, you can’t. So maybe, instead of trying your fancy little dark magic trick, we could formulate a plan to escape from here? I can’t believe Headmistress McGonagall is letting this happen.” She shook her head.

He snapped out of his little trance. “You really think she’s still in control?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Look, I don’t know a ton about everything that went down here. In fact, I barely know anything. What I do know is that it seems unlikely that McGonagall would voluntarily invite back someone known to associate with Death Eaters, and let her make us clean out this room. I’ve only ever been in one… place… like this, and that… did not end well...” Nico sat down next to Hermione, eyes sad. She rescinded her previous statement. They hadn’t been through shit. They must’ve been through hell. “I digress. Clearly, someone’s pulling her strings.”

“But who?” Hermione frowned. “All the known Death Eaters were excommunicated from the Ministry.”

“They call you the smartest witch of her age, you know.” Nico looked intensely at her. “Is it true? Are you really that smart?”

“Well,” Hermione sat up a little straighter, “I do try.”

“And you and Ron, you’re dating, right?”

“Yes.” Hermione glanced at him in confusion. “Why?”

“So, you’re smart,” Nico moved a little closer, “and probably good at making rational decisions. And in a long-term relationship.”

“Yes. As we’ve established. Why?”

“No reason, no reason.” Nico sniffed and cleared his throat. “So, let’s say—hypothetically—that I have this friend. Okay.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Or well, tried to. She had always been envious of people who could do that.

“Right. And so, my… friend, hypothetically speaking, likes this boy.” Nico twisted his hands in his lap, fiddling with his ring. “And this boy likes me… I mean  _ my friend _ back. And they’ve been going out for a while, nothing serious. And things are going great and… my friend… is really starting to like this boy a lot. But then this boy, still completely hypothetically speaking.” He looked at her, slightly nervous. More emotions. Maybe he just needed to know someone better before opening up.

“Right.” Hermione nodded sarcastically.

“This boy,” Nico swallowed, “says ‘I love you’ to… my friend.”

“Well, that’s great,” Hermione said. “He must really like your…  _ friend. _ ”

“Yeah, you would think so,  _ but, _ ” Nico paused, “let’s say he says it in, oh, I don’t know, this bizarre, magical, exploding prank letter.” He looked at her.

“As one does,” Hermione added.

“Um, yeah,” Nico nodded nervously, “so he says it in this letter for the first time. As like, a casual ending. Do you still think he means it? Hypothetically.”

“I don’t think he would say it if he didn’t mean it.” Hermione placed a comforting hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Your friend doesn’t seem like the type to go out with some douchebag, so he must be a nice guy. And I don’t think he would say something that’s obviously so important to… your friend, without being serious.”

“He really is great.” Nico leaned into Hermione’s side. “How do I respond to something like that? I mean my friend? Hypothetically?”

“I don’t know.” Hermione smiled. “Maybe you can creep up on him with some dead roses or something. Seriously, it’s so scary when you do that thing.”

Nico scoffed and straightened back up again.

“At least I’m upfront about my creeping. I don’t hide and spy on other people’s conversations.” Nico got up. Hermione froze in her spot. “That’s right, I saw you guys last night.”

“Look,” Hermione got up too, “I can explain. Also, how?”

“I’m sure you can.” Nico let out a sarcastic laugh. “Why don’t you just, like, give us a chance, huh?  You’ve done nothing but be suspicious of us since we got here. And, answering your question, I see all the invisible things in this place. Except for down here. There’s something wrong with this room.” He laid a hand on the stone wall behind them, shuddered the slightest amount, and mumbled, “I have to get out of here.”

“Well, it’s a little strange, don’t you think?” Hermione squinted. “You show up out of nowhere, talking about shadow magic, with weird tattoos on your forearms. I do research on all of you exchange students, and  _ nothing _ shows up. How do you explain that? How do you explain  _ any _ of this, for that matter?”

“Wait, you did research on all the exchange students?” Nico turned around. “Did you, by any chance, find anything on Cory?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, everyone, I'm looking for someone to beta. In particular this story but in general I have a few things that I'm working on, that I would love for someone to look through. Also, maybe having a beta would help me keep up a regular updating schedule. If you're interested, contact me on pjuske1109@icloud.com or come find me at Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dandelionlinolinaline
> 
> Also, I was wondering if anyone would like to see some art me and my friend did for Cory (Corianna)? If so please let me know in the comments. :-)


	18. The Room Above The Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy...  
> So if you've stuck with this since the beginning... I applaud you. Truly. To have stuck with me through constantly promising to update more, and then... not doing it. Thank you really. Here is a new chapter, extra long. Hope you enjoy!

The room of the exchange students seemed oddly abandoned. There was no luggage in sight and all of the beds were freshly made as if they had never been slept in.  The only sign of any occupancy of the room was the strangely large bowl filled with water on the desk near the window. And, as they looked closer, a scorched blanket was tossed underneath one of the beds.

Harry sighed next to Ron. He tore the invisibility cloak off with a resigned look on his face. He looked the way that Ron felt. Defeated. 

“There’s nothing here.” Ron opened one of the bedside cupboards. Nothing. “It’s like they don’t even live here. I mean, you should think five teenage boys living together would make more of a mess. I mean…” He opened the wardrobe. There was nothing. Not even school robes or house scarves. Ron looked at the closet closely.

“Hey, Harry?” Ron called without turning away from the closet, “Now this may just be me, or have something to do with the fact that it’s completely empty, but does this closet look uneven to you?”

Harry walked up behind him. He peeked over Ron’s shoulder. Both boys tilted their heads in unison.

“No,” Harry said, “no it’s definitely crooked. Almost like there’s an extra sheet of wood on the right side. You don’t think…?” The boys looked at each other. 

Ron leaned forward into the large wardrobe. He knocked lightly on the left wall of the closet. It gave out a dull sound. He repeated the motion on the right wall. A deep hollow sound. With a quick glance at Harry behind him, Ron started feeling along the wall. Near the bottom corner, he felt the sheet go loose and pulled. It came right off. Both boys stood back, Ron holding the fake wall precariously between his hands.

There was nothing much in the hollow space beneath the wall. Only a leather pouch and a folded up piece of paper. Ron reached for the pouch at the same time Harry reached for the paper. Both looked down. Inside the pouch was a few gold coins that Ron didn’t recognize. He turned to Harry. 

“Do you know what these are? Are they muggle money?” He held the pouch out towards Harry, who frowned and leaned closer to inspect the coins.

“None that I know of.” He shook his head. “Listen to this;  _ May need shadow magic to undo. If it doesn’t work have Hazel summon some gems and mist them to look like something else. Tell Nico to try and remember. They do sound like visions. Xoxo Rachel. _ ” He looked over at Ron. “This sounds really dangerous. Do you think these visions were what they were talking about last night?”

“I don’t know. I think we better take this to Hermione. She’ll probably know more than we do.”

“Don’t you think they’ll notice that this stuff is gone?”

“Maybe. But do we have a choice? I mean “shadow magic”? “Summoning gems”? It sounds pretty serious.”

“I guess you’re right,” Harry sighed. “Let’s go.”

They hurried through the hallways. As they turned various corners, Ron noticed that the castle seemed eerily quiet. It wasn’t just the lack of students, though that was unsettling too. It was closer to dinner, but not close enough to clear the halls to this degree. Also, usually there were at least a few people scattered throughout the castle, even during dinner. It was the pictures though that really set Ron off. Most of them were empty, and those who weren’t, had the occupant hiding in the corners of the painting. None of the staircases were moving either.

“The hallway..” Ron gazed at the empty paintings. “It’s completely empty. Even the portraits.” He looked at Harry hoping to convey the dread he felt. Then, just in case his look didn’t ask the question, he did out loud. “What is going on?”

Harry’s face mirrored the worry Ron felt. He turned his head. He could have sworn he heard something.

“Did you hear that?”

“What?”

Ron motioned for Harry to follow him. Once in a while, he stopped to make sure he was still hearing the noise. It was faint, but it was there. Like a constant buzzing, a nest of hornets or bees flying around. He continued walking towards the sound. He felt Harry right behind him. He was close enough that Ron could hear his breath, slightly irregular. Selfish as it was, Ron felt a little comfort in knowing that his best friend was just as scared as he was. It was easy to sometimes forget that he and Harry were both just kids. It was supposed to be over this year. If not the fear, at least the mysteries, the not-knowing. But yet, three days in, and they were presented with riddle upon riddle.

Ron came to an abrupt stop. Harry nearly crashed into him. He swore.

“Do you still not hear anything?” Ron asked. The sound was steadily getting louder.

“Not a thing.” Harry looked around. “Are you sure you’re not just imagining it?” Ron shook his head.

“No, I’m sure. It’s just like…” He paused. Of course. He started rifling through his pockets, searching for it.

“Just like what?” Harry asked. Ron’s finger closed around the sleek cylinder. He smiled.

“Just like when the Deluminator led me back to you and Hermione.” He held it up. Before clicking it, he looked at Harry for confirmation. Harry nodded, almost invisible. Ron clicked it.

“Everybody in here.” It’ wasn’t Hermione’s voice from the orb this time. Ron let a breath go. He didn’t even know he had been holding it.

“Neville.” He said with wonder. He looked at Harry. He lifted his eyebrows in silent agreement. They followed the orb. It started flowing forward to the moment they agreed to follow it. It was almost as if it could read their minds. In the back of his head, the part that wasn’t filled to the brim with worry and confusion, Ron thought to himself that it wouldn’t surprise him. They had certainly encountered weirder things than a sentient, mind reading, glowing orb. Really, he would almost be more surprised if it wasn’t the case.

The orb didn’t have much regard for the tempo Harry and Ron were capable of walking in. It flew several feet ahead of them, occasionally stopping as if urging them to speed up. It kept leading them up higher and higher. Higher than Ron had ever known the castle to go.

Suddenly it stopped. In front of them lay a long white hallway. It was empty. Empty in a way that didn’t suit Hogwarts.Clinical. Except it wasn’t quite the right word. Ron would say it reminded him of a hospital, but even hospital halls had some sort of decoration, some signs of life.

At the end of the hallway was a single door. On it was a sign readable even from their distance. “Staff Only.”

“Guess it’s pretty clear where we’re going,” Harry said.

“Yeah.”

“We should probably get moving.”

“Yeah.” Neither of them moved.

It was ridiculous. They had fought in a war. Harry had literally died. And yet. Something about the door just screamed at them to stay away. At last Harry moved.

“I guess we wanna find Neville right?” It was his turn to look at Ron for confirmation.

“On the count of 3?” Ron breathed in slowly. He let it go. “ 3, 2, 1!”

Both of them stepped forward into the hallway. Immediately the world shifted. The irrational feeling of fear disappeared. The white hallway turned into what mostly looked like an old attic. The floor was transparent. It took all of Ron’s willpower not to jump over and cling to the walls. Underneath them, he saw the Great Hall. This, Ron realized, must’ve been what was on top of the magic ceiling.

Around him were students of all ages. Some had given in to the looming fear and were clinging to the walls, looking down at the floor in intervals, before qyúickly looking away. Others were sitting on it, staring down in awe and wonder. Others again were huddled together in groups. Many were crying or bore signs of having done so recently. Overall, the atmosphere was glum. Ron looked sideways at a weeping first year. What was going on? Where was Neville?

“Hey!” Ron said to a small 3rd-year student. “What the bloody hell is going on here? Is everything alright? Where is Neville?” The girl looked up at him, wide-eyed. She glanced sideways at Harry, then back to Ron. He rolled his eyes, as he always did when people reacted this way to Harry. It was ridiculous. Swiftly he composed himself. “Where is Neville?” He asked again.

“He’s over there.” The girl pointed in the direction of the tallest group of people. The group of people with the least amount of nervous energy coming off them. The experienced group. And sure enough, Neville’s broad back and mop of blonde hair was turned towards them to Ron’s great relief. Unfortunately, who he was talking to overwrote that brief sense of calm. The Americans. Or, at least three of them. Percy, Annabeth, and that tall blonde guy whose name Ron couldn’t remember at the moment. All of them looked aggravated. Annabeth’s eyebrows were scrunched together in obvious frustration. It only became deeper when she spotted Harry and Ron over Neville’s shoulder.

“Neville?” Harry asked. Neville turned around. “What is going on? Could someone please fill us in?” Neville frowned.

“Right,” he said, “we would do that. Except we don’t really know what  _ is  _ going on. It’s all a big mess.”

“Tell us what you know. It’s bound to be more than we know”

“Okay,” Neville said and twisted his hands. “So Umbridge. Something is…  _ not right _ about her. She came into the Great Hall and asked everyone of, quote-unquote, “inappropriate coloring” to stand up and leave with her.” Neville looked at the others for backup. Annabeth nodded. 

“It was so creepy.” She picked up where Neville left off. “Like she was a robot or something. She told us to go back to our dorms, and she would decide “who to keep” later. Safe to say we didn’t think that was a good idea. Percy, Jason and I had no idea what to do, but Neville…” She motioned for Neville to take over.

“So, after last year,” he swallowed, “I thought it would be a good idea to have a place for hiding the younger students and hold a council if the war broke out again. So, Luna and I started looking for rooms that could be used for hiding, just in case. We told it to a few of the students from the other houses. Top secret, even from the teachers. We didn’t know if the Snape-situation would repeat itself. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you guys,” Neville looked apologetic, “but we thought it was better if you didn’t know anything - after all the most likely to be interrogated if it came to it were you three - wait, where’s Hermione?” 

“She’s not with you?” Ron was beginning to get a feeling that something major was wrong. Something bigger than just them, something even bigger than Voldemort.

“No,” Percy said. “Nico’s missing too. They aren’t hiding with any of the other groups, but we didn’t see them go with Umbridge either. None of us have seen them since this morning.” Percy exchanged a look with Annabeth. That one look seemed to contain an entire conversation. Ron glared at them, mistrusting.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Harry voiced Ron’s thoughts.

“Harry-”

“No.” Harry cut off Neville. “You’re clearly hiding something. Ever since you came here, you’ve been sneaking around. Talking about shadow magic and what not. We saw your Dark Marks. For all we know, Nico has Hermione captured, and you’re using her to lead us into a trap.”

“Guys-”

“How dare you.” Blonde guy, Jason, looked furious. “We are worried for our friend too, but we don’t start slinging around accusations. We have known you for all of three days. Give us the benefit of the doubt, would you?”

“Please-”

“Oh don’t act like you’re so innocent!” Ron spat. “What about Cory?” Jason looked taken aback. Annabeth stepped forward. She was fuming.

“What do you know about Cory and us?”

“Guys, please just-”

“We heard you talking about her, don’t play dumb.” Ron stepped closer to Annabeth. She didn’t break eye contact. “What do you want with her?”

“I’d like to know that too.” Both of them turned to the interrupting voice. It was one of the twin-bodyguards. The boy one. Ron couldn’t remember his name.

“If you could please-” Neville was cut off again.

“Cameron?” Percy addressed the bodyguard-guy. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with the…” He trailed off.

“The other students of colour? Guess I just missed it.” Cameron sneered. “I was looking for Cory Who is also missing. And now I hear you’ve been talking about her? Doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”

“Oh please, that is just absolutely-”

“You can’t just-”

“You’re the one that’s hiding something-”

“Step back or else I swear to god-”

“EVERYONE PLEASE SHUT UP!”

They all looked to Neville, who was panting, and his face a delightful shade of red. They stooped shouting and looked at him expectantly.

“I know for a fact,” He looked at Ron and Annabeth, ”that Nico and Hermione are in the dungeon. Detention, remember? Umbridge took them down there this morning.” He turned to Cameron. “And I don’t know where Cory is for sure, but I’d be willing to put money on the fact that she’s with them. Now everyone, sit down!” He pointed to the floor. They sat down. Everything was silent for what felt like years. 

“The question is,” Annabeth broke the silence, “why she would separate  _ those three _ from everyone else. I mean Hermione is…” She looked nervously at Cameron.

“Black?” He looked amused. “You can say it you know. It’s not a bad word.”

“Yes, well.” Annabeth looked uncomfortable. “Anyways, Cory and Nico are not. So it just doesn’t make sense. Why those three together?”

“I vote,” Jason said, “we get them back and see if they have any information. If not, we’ll have their help figuring out the next step.”

“Yes!” Cameron pointed at him. “I agree with him.”

“I do too,” Ron said. Annabeth nodded.

“Second that.” She said.

“Thirded.” Percy and Neville said at the same time. They smiled quickly at each other before slipping back into the serious tone of the conversation.

“Harry?” Ron turned to his best friend. Harry hesitated for a moment. He looked pensive. Everyone held their breath. They all knew deep down, that if Harry disagreed, despite the majority of the vote, they wouldn’t do it. At last Harry nodded.

“Let’s do it.” He said. “What’s our plan of attack?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't proofread, even though I found someone to beta this work. They just haven't responded to anything I've written in a while (which is probably my fault tbh) and it's been so long since I updated this, so here you go anyways.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated. Even though I don't really respond to comments, I do read and re-read every one of them, and they warm my heart.


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